


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS VOLUME. 



AS SHE WOULD HAVE IT. 

By "ALEX." 

Small 12mo. Fine Cloth. $1.00. 



" This is a neat little volume, finely written, and is an exhaust- 
ive and plausible argument in favor of woman suffrage. . . . 
It is but just to say that this little work is of the first quality, and 
will prove interesting to all readers anxious for the growth and 
expansion of woman, either physically, mentally, or morally." — 
Washiiigfon Chronicle. 

" It is fair, and just, and sensible. We are glad to say that we 
can honestly praise this book." — Baltimore Gazette. 

" Is a calm and well-written plea in behalf of woman suffrage 
and woman's right to find work in every honorable department of 
industry. The volume is a small one, and is intended as an in- 
troduction to another, by the same author, but it has an indepen- 
dent interest of its own." — Cincinnati Gazette. 

"This is a book in advocacy of woman's rights, the subject 
being most ably handled." — Baltimore American. 



*:;..* For sale by all Booksellers, or will be sent by mail, postpaid, upon re- 
ceipt of the price by 

J. B. LIPPINOOTT & CO., Publishers, 

715 and 717 Market St., Philadelphia, 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



By ''ALEX." 

Author of "As She would have It." 



PHILADELPHIA: A 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

T 8 7 4. 



N^ 



^'.^- 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



Lippincott's Press, 
Philadelphia. 



TO 



WILLIAM C WHITE, JR., 

THIS LITTLE VOLUME 



IS OFFERED, 



IN APPRECIATION OF HIS MANY ACTS OF SYMPATHY 
AND LOVE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A FEW words of introduction may be necessary in 
giving to the public a book so entirely different in 
character from one recently presented, and we take 
pleasure in making any explanation that may be needed 
or expected. 

When we commenced the little work entitled ^^As 
She would have It," it was our plan to embody all 
comprised in these two volumes in one book. When 
we had completed about one-half of the original design, 
we were obliged to lay the work aside, and three years 
passed away before it was again resumed. Friends 
then advised the publication of that Avhich was already 
written, as an introduction to the public, thus pre- 
paring the way for whatever might follow. 

It was considered a matter of expediency to publish 
two books, on account of the length of time which 
elapsed between the writing of the two views upon this 
subject. 

We advanced the ideas which have already been 
published, because we regarded the objections which 
we attempted to set aside as not the true reasons for 

7 



8 INTR OD UCTION. 

the withholding of the ballot from woman. Our efforts 
to refute their arguments were put forth in order that 
we might show that, although not in sympathy with 
the female suffrage doctrine, we could prove the state- 
ments advanced insufficient to warrant men in denying 
woman this right. If men would only give their true 
reasons for opposing this movement, the majority of 
those who now ask for the privilege of voting would 
be satisfied, and would abandon this pursuit at once. 
In our work we have endeavored to use plain, simple 
language, in order that our ideas might be easily and 
fully understood by the masses. We have made sim- 
plicity in thought and expression a study, with the hope 
and sincere desire that all who read may comprehend 
and be benefited. 

We send out this little book with no desire to garner 
fame, for we know that it is not merited ; but we give 
it to you with a longing to accomplish some good. 

THE AUTHOR. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



I- 

To those who have read " As She would have It" 
it is plainly evident that the whole weight of argu- 
ment in favor of " Female Suffrage" depends upon 
one single question. The author submitted the 
views therein contained for the perusal of the pub- 
lic, having the desire to accomplish some good as 
an incentive to action. We shall make flo effort 
to refute the arguments already advanced in sup- 
port of Woman's Rights, because they are our own 
candid belief of the subject in discussion; but 
whether these rights can only be obtained through 
the ballot in the hands of wonftan, is a query of 
sufficient importance to form the outline of another 
volume. 

In order to deal candidly with this subject, which 
has been discussed so thoroughly and ably, we 
first advanced views favoring universal suffrage, 
and endeavored to present every reason possible 

5 9 



lO AS IT SHOULD BE. 

that woman could have for demanding the ballot. 
In fact, we almost convinced ourselves that woman 
was being sadly wronged just so long as this right 
was denied her; but upon second thought the ab- 
surdity of the doctrine became evident. The idea 
of woman's interests and advancement depending 
upon the ballot in her own hand, which is the 
question alluded to as being the one upon which 
all the arguments already advanced are based, is 
too unreasonable to be entertained for any time, 
at this present stage in the history of the country. 
There is a dividing line between female suffrage 
and woman's rights ; and, though most strongly op- 
posed to the first dogma, the last comes to us with 
truth and justice so plainly visible upon every side, 
that we find in our heart a disposition to class our- 
self with those who ask for certain rights but will 
not accept the ballot. We cannot help but feel that 
the time spent in clamoring for suffrage is worse 
than time wasted, while women only lower them- 
selves in the estimation of men by such a demand. 
But there is a work to be done; and we gladly 
give our feeble efforts to this cause of inducing 
women, and men too, for that matter, to a higher 
state of living. We would strive to arouse, if pos- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. II 

sible, those pure and noble impulses which have a 
place in every heart; and, by so doing, quicken 
their aspirations after that which is good and en- 
nobling. We would show woman what her true 
sphere is in life, and that even now she has more 
power than if the ballot were hers. And more 
than this : we would tell the dissatisfied ones that 
if they will enter upon their woman's work in 
their own sphere of action with their hearts really 
engaged in their work, the rights which they now 
ask for will soon be gained, and they will be led to 
see how foolish they once were to ask for suffrage. 
This may be regarded by some as a bold stdce- 
ment; and yet we do most firmly bciieve that if 
woman will only work out the task God assigned 
her, and work it out in His fear, the result will be 
far more glorious to herself than anything that 
could accrue to her from the privilege of voting. 
This right would only secure to her the simple 
privilege of a voice in political matters, in addition 
to the things which are already her own, and we 
cannot believe it would enable her to benefit those 
about her. A contrary result might be expected, 
for the influence which she now exerts will be partly 
destroyed, while, if she takes up her allotted task, 



12 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

the whole nation will soon feel her power. Of 
course, this could not be accomplished in a day, 
or a year, or perhaps fifty years ; but the result is 
certain in the end. There must be long years of 
patient, diligent labor, and each rising generation 
must be fitted to take the places of parents as 
they are left vacant. Not fitted for such places as 
they now are, but prepared and educated under 
a strong conviction of the duty owed to God and 
to humanity in their proper training. To every 
woman we make the appeal: would it not be far 
more noble to do your own work, in a way that for 
ail time must give evidence of your influence for 
good, than row to descend from your true, wo- 
manly position, and ask — yea, demand, even — of 
man a privilege which in itself is of little con- 
sequence, and which cannot aid you in being a 
better woman, or fit you more thoroughly for your 
own sphere of action? We know what your answer 
must be ; and in reply to your question of how 
you are to carry out your life-mission for good, 
we would say that the object of this little book is 
to answer your query. 

There is a word now sounding in our ears, and 
one which must soon become a cry that shall be 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 1 3 

echoed and re-echoed throughout the whole world, 
stimulating us to earnest effort; and that word is — 
Reform. It has been attempted to a certain extent, 
but thus far the attempt has been insult heaped 
upon injury. The "Civil Service Reform," which 
was to remodel our national government com- 
pletely, has only proved a farce, and causes us to 
blush for those who instituted the plan, but have, 
since its adoption, seemed to forget the object for 
which the system was established. But there is a 
time coming when this one word must become 
the universal watchword in the political world, in 
the civil world, yes, and in the religious world. 
Wrongs have been added to wrongs, until justice 
must institute a thorough renovation. How this 
renovation shall be brought about, is a matter 
which only time can develop, for so much wicked- 
ness cannot go unpunished forever. Such must be 
the case if we believe in the justice of the Supreme 
Being; for the civil law has its origin in the Divine 
law, and if the civil law is broken or disobeyed, 
do we not trespass upon the laws from which 
the law disregarded has its source? The simple 
fact that civil laws and church laws are often 
trampled upon without bringing down upon the 



14 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

delinquent the punishment thereto appended, is no 
proof to us that the Great Lawgiver will deal thus 
gently with us. The tide of human suffering, 
wrongs, and injustice has been swelling and in- 
creasing until it seems as though the troubled 
waves lapped the very throne of the Infinite; and 
in His own good time we shall be brought to real- 
ize our own shortcomings, and be held accountable 
for the part we have had in increasing this tide. 
If there is suffering in the world, — and we know 
there is, — there must be wrongs or causes for this 
anguish ; and if there are wrongs in the world, 
there must be injustice. Then, too, there must be 
two parties in each case : there must be the sufferer 
and the one who is the cause of such pain ; there 
must be the one wronged and the one committing 
the wrong ; there must be the one smarting from 
injustice and the one who is unjust. 

Suffering arises from two sources, viz.: suffering 
from afflictions laid upon us by God Himself, and 
which may be termed of a Divine origin ; and that 
occasioned by things purely human. The first we 
should accept cheerfully, as coming from a loving 
Father for our own personal welfare and good, in 
some way; and we must look upon such afflictions 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 1 5 

as something over which we have no controlHng 
power. Causes, however, which arise among man- 
kind, having their source here upon the earth, we 
can control to a certain extent, but only in certain 
ways. One of the most important of these lies 
within woman's province of work, and is a -work 
which she alone can accomplish. It is of a mag- 
nitude equal to the heavens in vastness, of an 
importance which only the mysteries of eternity 
can measure, and of a responsibility the sacredness 
of which must speak through every soul with 
which we are brought in contact. Does not this 
fact appear to you of far more importance than the 
mere casting of a vote which we believe will never 
secure to you the rights which you desire ? Better 
for all, if this cry for the ballot could be forever 
hushed, and this work of a moral reform taken up 
with the same zeal and earnestness which have 
characterized the woman movement ! Let each 
woman consider this question for herself, answer 
it for herself, for she alone can be responsible for 
what she does. Oh that each one would consider 
her true woman's sphere as of far more impor- 
tance and far more sacred than any new sphere 
which might be placed within her reach! Oh that 



1 6 ■ AS IT SHOULD BE, 

she would regard her woman's mission as the 
most godlike of any given since the angels were 
commissioned to watch over the Garden of Eden ! 
If she would fulfill her mission faithfully, she 
needs and must have all those attributes and 
virtues peculiar to Heaven only. 

It will be seen at once that, before this work 
can be entered upon, there is another work to be 
performed; and that is, each individual woman 
must fit herself for the task before her. We are 
more than pained that there are so few women 
really fitted for such labor now, but when we look 
about us we dare not say otherwise. The time has 
come when true, noble women are needed, as well 
as true, noble men, for there is a particular work 
which such women alone can accomplish. 

The labors of men toward reform may result in 
much good, but they never will be wholly suc- 
cessful until woman joins her influence with theirs 
in the conflict, for such it will be before many 
years shall roll away. 

The women of the present day admit of almost as 
many classifications, as to professions, as are found 
among the opposite sex. We have female ministers, 
teachers, lawyers, physicians, grand jurors, etc., and 



AS IT SHOULD BE. . 17 

it is not a matter of so much surprise as is gener- 
ally expressed that we have female politicians and 
demagogues, as well as working-women. As we 
scan the field of political strife and warfare, it is 
with no feeling of pride that we behold there those 
whose very womanhood has been cast aside in the 
great struggle for what they term "their rights." 
Nay, not so much a struggle for what they term 
"their rights," as it is a clamor which they have 
raised to satisfy their insatiable thirst for notoriety. 
"Rights," did we say? We should not have used 
the term, for what is there left to be classed under 
such a head for them to ask for? Having taken, 
without permission, every position and right which 
has been presented before her that might be re- 
garded as belonging to man only, and appropriated 
the same, woman has at last arrived at the ballot. 
We will not speak as though all women had gone 
thus far, so we would say that such women as de- 
mand suffrage have thus appropriated these rights 
and privileges. When they found that they were 
compelled to ask for the ballot, — for they cannot 
lay hold upon it and use it as theirs, although they 
have attempted to do so, — they have been chagrined 
at their want of success, and to conceal this they 



1 8 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

have set up this cry for " rights." This only exist- 
ing privilege denied such a woman becomes the 
one great desire of her life, and she leaves the 
throne upon which God placed her and man 
crowned her, and rushes into the arena of politi- 
cal strife, forgetting the sanctity of her position. 

Oh, woman, whose highest mark of honor is 
the halo which m.aternity cast about thee, how 
art thou fallen, thus to soil thy garments in a 
hand-to-hand encounter with those men who are 
constantly in the mire of controversy! 

Claiming to be the representatives of the 
wronged and oppressed, such women would have 
the world regard them as martyrs to the cause 
which they advocate, and would have us look upon 
the object to be gained as justifying the means 
used. They would have us forget that they have 
put a great gulf between us by the very manner 
in which they ask for this power of voting, and 
rally to the support of their cause. But are such 
women in truth the representatives of the oppressed 
and suffering — of that class who need and should 
have certain rights granted them? We fear they 
are demagogues in name only, for they first volun- 
teered their services, and have, without any special 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 1 9 

permission, appeared before the public claiming to 
be the friends and confidantes of the sorrowing. 

The working-women are indeed the only class 
who have sufficient and just cause for claiming 
certain rights, and we cannot and do not believe 
that these advocates of female suffrage are the 
leaders of this class of females. Let us examine 
the statement, however, and judge for ourselves 
whether it be true or not. Let us ascertain, if 
possible, if the working-women — and by working- 
women we mean all those who are dependent upon 
their own labor for support — are in truth the cause 
of all this agitation. Has the question of female suf- 
frage had its origin among the factory-girls, sewing- 
girls, servant-girls, and others in service? Have 
they met and discussed this question, and decided 
that the ballot should be theirs, sending out their 
representatives to influence the people in their be- 
half and to demand for them the adjusting of their 
wrongs ? Have they selected these female politicians 
as their leaders, authorizing them to take up the 
contest in their stead — asking for them the ballot as 
the only means of aiding them to care for and pro- 
vide for themselves properly ? God knows that their 
wrongs have been grievous enough, and their bur- 



20 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

dens heavy enough ; but they have never asked the 
aid of those who have voluntarily espoused their 
cause. In spite of the ignorance generally com- 
mon among this class of women, they understand 
that the ballot in their own hands will never remedy 
the evils of their present situation. Experience, 
which is our most thorough teacher, has taught 
them to believe that female rulers and law-makers 
would be no less severe than the governing power 
of to-day. And we may go one step farther, 
making this statement cover a far greater amount 
of surface. There are those who believe that a 
new power, should such a change be brought 
about, would not be satisfied with equal severity, 
but would redress present wrongs by the imposing 
of far heavier burdens upon the toiler. 

Experience, we say, has taught them this, and it 
is no matter of surprise that such is the case when 
we consider the severity with which woman has 
dealt with woman. There is scarcely a home where 
servants are employed, but " the girls" have felt 
the tyrannizing power of the mistress. Of course 
there are exceptions in this matter, but when such 
power is felt, the life of the servants becomes that 
of slavery rather than servitude. 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 21 

Northern people who pronounced such bitter 
invectives against slavery as it once existed in the 
South would be surprised, if they would only 
allow themselves to be convinced, to know that 
they themselves are more severe upon their ser- 
vants than many a slave-holder was upon his 
slaves. The reports of fearful sufferings — the 
'* Uncle Tom" stories which flooded the North 
— were the exceptions rather than the rule of 
living among the colored people. 

We never approved of this institution, which was 
entailed as a curse upon each succeeding generation 
in the South, and which was at one time tolerated 
in the North ; but when so much has been said, so 
many maimed for life, and so much precious blood 
spilt, in order that this very institution might be 
destroyed, we can but blush when we know that 
a worse state of servitude exists, at this present 
time, in many a home in the North. We say a 
worse state of servitude, for when the service ren- 
dered is performed by a free, independent, white 
person, the chains of tyranny are only the more 
galling, and for this reason more keenly felt. 

During the existence of slavery, the negroes 
knew that they were the property of their master, 

3 



22 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

and, as his, they were bound to render him just 
service. In return, they were clothed and provided 
for, — for it was for the interest of the owner that this 
should be well done, — and they had no need to give 
a single thought to the matter. Now, however, the 
condition among white servants is slavery in one 
sense of the word, but the servant must always 
manage her own affairs ; so that she has an addi- 
tional burden to carry with her. 

A person has only to pass through the South to- 
day, and converse with those who were once bond- 
men, in order to be convinced that their condition 
while in slavery was often far better than it is at 
the present time. This has been a subject of no 
little interest to us, for, having been educated with 
Northern principles, we abhorred slavery and every- 
thing connected with it. Since the emancipation, 
we have spent nearly three years with Southern 
people and among those who were once slaves, 
and we have used every opportunity which has 
been presented to enlighten ourselves as to the 
true state of feeling now existing among the blacks. 
The outward appearances, in many instances, were 
sufficient to assure us that they had not learned 
as yet the knack of using freedom to their own 



I 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



23 



advantage. One old colored man with whom we 
conversed told us that he never saw such poor 
times as he was seeing then. "Why," said he, 
" freedom am much like de 'federate money : de 
more we have of it, de worse off we am!" 

We simply allude to this matter to show that the 
condition of the majority of slaves was not so bad 
as many have been led to believe, and that they 
themselves were better satisfied with their life of 
bondage than they are now. If there are con- 
ditions of toil more disagreeable to endure among 
female servants in the North than this life of ser- 
vitude was to the colored people, we cannot fail to 
see that the lives of such persons are worse than 
slavery. The negroes were ignorant; and if the 
burden placed upon white servants was diminished 
in proportion as the intelligence of such servants 
exceeds that of the negro, the burden would be 
comparatively small that would have to be endured 
by woman. 

Let this be as it may, however, we do know that 
there are servants whose life is worse than that of 
slavery ; and we know, too, sad as the truth may 
appear, that woman is often found the most severe 
of all task-masters. The charity of one female for 



24 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

another Is small, and wealth often causes her to 
forget that she is dependent upon her servants, 
and that they are human like herself 

It is a mystery to us how we can so forget our- 
selves as to treat each other with scorn and indif- 
ference, when one God gave to all the same breath 
of life, so that when we enter the world we are all on 
an equal footing, and when death claims us we are 
again equal. Nevertheless, such is the case, for we 
find wealth the only essential necessary to the en- 
trance of a person, no matter what his moral or in- 
tellectual standing may be, to any society or any 
position of trust. We seem to forget much that it 
would be well for us many times to remember ; and 
women often disgrace the name of woman, by the 
manner in which they treat their own sex. 

If the controversy which is now being carried 
on throughout the country had originated in the 
present century, and under the existing circum- 
stances of the present day, we might attribute the 
woman's suffrage question to the source from which 
these female leaders claim its origin. But such is 
not the case, however, for the question is as old as 
civilization itself, and women who thirst for noto- 
riety have seized upon the question of rights, and 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



25 



converted it into a question of suffrage. In order 
to ascertain something of the magnitude and 
strength of this cry, let us endeavor to discover 
from whence it comes. 

We think we can assert with safety that this 
clamor does not come from homes of wealth and 
refinement. Of course, there may be exceptions, 
but they are few in number. Tell me, women, 
— not ladies, for there is a vast difference between a 
true, noble woman, and a mere butterfly of fashion 
that is termed a lady, whose every God-given 
attribute is sacrificed to what the world will think, 
— tell me, I ask, has your woman's work and mis- 
sion become irksome ? Do you long to be freed 
from your high and holy responsibilities of wife 
and mother? Do you long to step beyond the 
duties which seem to be the lines that circumscribe 
your sphere, in order that you may mingle in the 
political struggle of the day ? Has the strong 
arm of the husband, whose protection is ever 
yours on account of his great love for you, be- 
come too weak for you to lean upon? Has the 
sweet prattle of innocent childhood in your own 
homes less attraction for you than the fearful oaths 
and bitter imprecations of the political mob? 



26 AS IT SHOULD BE, 

Would you sacrifice the happy, cheerful quiet of 
your pleasant fireside for the wrangling of the 
caucus? What is the reply? From the majority 
there comes but one answer, and that answer is 
" No." 

What do we hear coming from the mechanic's 
home, where husband, wife, and children, with 
hearts and hands united, struggle on life's rugged 
pathway, meeting and overcoming obstacles which 
never would have been conquered but for their 
love for each other and their united labors? There 
are dreary days of pain, toil, and suffering for all 
such, — often so severe that they long for that rest 
found only in the grave. But is it from such homes 
that the cry for suffrage comes? Nay; the peace 
and harmony of their every-day lives, and the 
frugal board provided by love, satisfy their every 
demand. The woman who would endeavor to mar 
the enjoyment of such homes by the introduction 
of ideas in regard to rights, ought to be branded 
before the world as a destroyer of home-happiness. 

And how is it among the women who are de- 
pendent upon their daily labor for support ? Are 
theirs the voices which sound so discordantly 
upon the ears of humanity generally? In this 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



27 



class of females are comprised all who really need 
or ought to have certain rights, and yet they are 
never heard except as certain women would repre- 
sent them as speaking. It is true that they long 
for something more lucrative as a means of sup- 
port, or their present employment more liberally 
rewarded ; but never for one moment have they 
thought that such a thing could be secured through 
the ballot were it placed within their grasp. Their 
aspirations have never reached such a height, nor 
fancy pictured to them the possibility of such a 
thing; neither would they realize fully the value 
of the same were it theirs to-day. 

Thus we find that the few who, by their words 
only, are entitled to the name of leaders, have taken 
upon themselves a great responsibility in claiming 
to represent the class of females which they do, 
and a class too who have never asked such a favor 
at their hands. And now the next question which 
presents itself is this : "Who are comprised in this 
few?" . 

There are those whom nature has endowed with 
masculine traits of character of such an unusual 
degree, that all the finer sensibilities which charac- 
terize the female mind seem to have faded out of 



28 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

sight In the desire to satisfy their ambition of 
merging into female politicians. Possessed of a 
power of imagination which is truly wonderful, 
their fancy spreads before them a future of won- 
ders. They see the ballot, which is the object of 
their labors, gained, and they occupying the high- 
est official positions of trust and importance in the 
land. A woman, in their vision, is In the executive 
chair of the nation, while about her are gathered 
her own particular friends as members of her 
cabinet. 

It is no matter of surprise to us that such women 
are pleased with the life which they have accepted, 
for nature is ever claiming that her demands be 
satisfied ; and where there are not womanly delicacy 
and dignity sufficient to battle with those things 
successfully which are known to be contrary to the 
mission of the female, the result In a woman Is just 
what we have In many Instances before the public 
at the present time. Had they controlled these 
aspirations for a public life, they might have been 
the means of doing much good, for, with the de- 
termination and will peculiar to such natures, they 
would have accomplished any work undertaken. 
The zeal with which they labor In their present 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



29 



work proves to us what their efforts would have 
been had they been made in another direction. 

Others, being very susceptible to outward influ- 
ences, which is an evidence of their lack of firm- 
ness of character, are inclined to fall in love with 
every new face that appears on the field of action. 
Marriage is with these women but a farce ; and 
they have even gone so far as to make public their 
belief in this statement. In truth, matrimony is 
but the selecting from a world full of people a 
man or a woman for a companion upon whom is 
labelled in imposing characters, *' Warranted ; if 
not satisfactory, can be exchanged or returned at 
any time." Thus, if either party is found to be a 
human being, instead of an angel as had been 
expected, or if a new face more attractive is seen, 
the sanctity of the marriage vow is set aside. This, 
indeed, is the belief of many who would scorn 
the idea of being classed with the WoodhuU fac- 
tion, — or at least actions, which are often more ex- 
pressive than words, give license to the utterance 
of this statement. The solemn obligation entered 
into in the presence of God and witnessed by man, 
to take "for better for worse," not for the better 
and to be cast aside for the worse ; ''to love and 



30 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



cherish" in sickness as well as in health until " God 
doth us part," is wholly disregarded. " What God 
hath joined together let not man put asunder," is 
an injunction of so little importance, and so entirely 
separate from their doctrines of Christianity, that 
man does not hesitate for a moment to set aside 
the command, and by so doing severs the bond 
which was voluntarily entered into by him. 

In fact, there is but little of the true spirit of the 
Master abroad at the present time, and we blush to 
make the statement. It matters not though hearts 
be crushed and ruin wrought ; this has no weight 
with the one whose selfishness must be satisfied. 
In other words, the free-love doctrine, which has 
already become a subject of much interest and 
discussion, has furnished as many advocates of 
female suffrage as any other sect of people in the 
country. Its pernicious influences are being felt 
everywhere, and daily we hear of some new case 
of ruin that has been accomplished through its 
power. How a creed, as we may term it, which 
comes to us with so much sin and crime stamped 
in the very outline of every argument advanced in 
favor of its adoption, can be accepted, is a question 
which every upright individual should consider 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



31 



fully and well, in order that a correct answer may- 
be obtained. 

The dissolving of the marriage tie has become 
a matter of such frequent occurrence, that it is time 
we gave the subject careful thought. Were this 
idea of free-love — new in doctrine perhaps, but old 
in practice — to gain the ascendency among the 
people, evils of which we have no idea would fill 
our land. How can such views coincide with 
Bible teachings ? for in cases where there have been 
wrongs Christ commands forgiveness even though 
the act be repeated " seventy times seven." And 
again, it is written, ** Be ye merciful even as your 
Father in heaven is merciful." Then again : " It 
hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, 
let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I 
say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his 
wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth 
her to commit adultery ; and whosoever shall 
marry her that is divorced committeth adultery." 
Matthew v. 31, 32. "The Pharisees also came 
unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him. Is 
it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every 
cause ? And he answered and said unto them, 
Have you not read, that he which made them at 



32 AS IT SHOULD BE, 

the beginning made them male and female, and 
said, For this cause shall a man leave father and 
mother, and shall cleave to his wife ; and they 
twain shall be one flesh ? Wherefore they are no 
more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God 
hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 
They say unto him. Why did Moses then com- 
mand to give a writing of divorcement, and to put 
her away? He saith unto them, Moses because 
of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put 
away your wives : but from the beginning it was 
not so. And I say unto you. Whosoever shall put 
away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall 
marry another, committeth adultery : and whoso 
marrieth her which is put away doth commit adul- 
tery." Matthew xix. 3-9. 

The laws imposed upon us by the Deity Himself 
are seldom given a second thought, at least so 
far as their own obedience to them is concerned. 
The restraints of the Divine law, repeated in our 
civil laws in some States, are too strict, and the 
female advocates of free-love long to get the reins 
of government into their own hands, that they may 
arrange and modify the present power — that is, the 
law — so that it shall countenance their own views. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 33 

As leaders, they would arrange their own platform, 
and their followers would support them in their 
every step. 

It is true that law at the present time is of 
little consequence, for it is rare that it is fully en- 
forced; and injustice is tolerated under the garb 
of mercy, while vice runs riot without fear of pun- 
ishment. The world appears to be overrun with 
crime of every description ; and the time is not far 
distant when the people will raise such a cry for 
the enforcement of the law to the very letter, that 
those who now pretend to deal out justice will be 
compelled to do so in truth, or vacate their official 
positions. Think you weak humanity can improve 
the laws of a wonderful Divinity ? Tell us, do we 
need to change the law which now protects pure 
love so that free-love shall be tolerated ? Is this 
absolutely necessary to the securing of our happi- 
ness ? Next to Divine love is human love, which, 
when sincerely exercised here on earth, is typical 
of that which pervades heaven itself There we 
find true love, there is patience, and there too is 
forgiveness. When these attributes are possessed, 
do you hear free-love spoken of? Marriage is the 
most sacred of all God's ordinances, made so by 

4 



34 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



His special command ; and bold must be the hand 
that breaks the bonds of wedlock, unless that crime 
has been committed which has been forbidden by 
Him who created the ordinance. You who regard 
the marriage vows of but little consequence, remem- 
ber that at your hands the same will be required, 
whether they have been preserved sacred by you 
or cast aside and broken. Such must be the case; 
for how can the commands of the Infinite in regard 
to marriage be considered of less importance than 
those which forbid theft and murder ? They have 
all been enjoined upon us by the same Being, and 
to Him we must render an account of how we 
have preserved them all. Not one or two, but all ; 
for think you it was intended that we should ob- 
serve some of the commandments and wholly dis- 
regard the others ? If we do not murder, are Ave 
justified in stealing ? If we do not steal, are we 
justified in severing the marriage ties? These 
questions are for you to answer, and we leave them 
with you. 

Another class have been carried into the strug- 
gle for the ballot by powerful arguments brought 
to bear upon them while they were surrounded 
by unpleasant circumstances ; their homes may 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



35 



not have been as pleasant as they should have 
been. The tyranny of the husband who, in his 
blindness, is always proclaiming to the world that 
his wife is attempting to rule him, has worked mir- 
acles in the heart which once loved so fondly and 
trusted so implicitly; yes, loved better than her 
own life. When neglect and scorn first manifested 
themselves, the agony of that woman's heart was 
fearful ; but as sternness and unkindness were 
added to the other grievances, her love for hus- 
band and home was weakened, and, ere she real- 
ized the fact, she had pledged herself to give her 
voice in favor of universal suffrage. In time she 
ponders upon the step taken, and despises herself 
for having gone so far ; but now there are no re- 
turning footsteps, and, with a sad and weary heart, 
she divides her time between her home and those 
places where she meets the party with which she 
has cast her lot. 

There are those, too, who have deliberately en- 
tered into the conflict, believing it to be right and 
just. They look upon the matter in question — 
namely, the ballot — as the only means by which 
redress may be obtained for existing wrongs, as 
they term them. We have more charity for this 



36 ylS IT SHOULD BE. 

class of females than any others who class them- 
selves among the righters(?). Their motives are 
honest and devoid of selfishness, and this sin- 
cerity of purpose becomes a redeeming feature in 
the case, although they may be laboring under a 
mistaken idea of right and wrong. They have 
thrown themselves heart and soul into the work, 
and labor with an earnestness that is truly sur- 
prising. 

Still others join the moving throng who have 
no particular object in view. Their lives are too 
lifeless to bring about any serious result, and yet 
each voice aids in swelling the rising cry. They 
scarcely know what they are asking for, and of 
course have not been much disappointed when 
their requests have been denied in the past. In 
the memorials which have been presented before 
State legislatures as well as Congress, it will be 
found upon examination that the majority of names 
attached thereto have been obtained from just such 
women. 

We will not particularize further, however. 
Enough to say that this party which is demanding 
the ballot is constantly increasing in size, and it is 
time that every true, sensible woman should con- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



37 



sider this subject carefully and give her influence 
in favor of that which she believes to be right. 
If she be truly sensible, we have no fears as to 
what she will consider the right in this subject of 
discussion. 

'Tis true that this question of woman's rights 
had its origin with civilization itself After God 
had completed the creation of the world, placing 
therein all the different forms and grades of animal 
life, He created man. To this man, Adam, was the 
task assigned of naming all the different species 
of living things, and they were placed unde'r his 
control. 

Among the very early historians, the idea was 
prevalent that immediately after the creation a 
universal language was current among man and 
beasts ; and, if we take the statements recorded in 
the Holy Scriptures of the fall of man just as they 
are, without regarding the language as figurative, 
we will find this belief corroborated. And why 
should we regard this early history of the creation 
and fall as abounding in figurative expressions? for 
at the time it was written such things were almost 
unknown. Man was placed among these animals, 
but nowhere could he find a companion to whom 

4* 



38 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

he could go for counsel and encouragement, or in 
whose society there was any pleasure. If, accord- 
ing to the belief of the ancients, there was a 
universal language, even this did not make the 
highest order in animal life his equal. God saw 
his situation, and from the rib created He woman 
his equal in all things, — not even placing her under 
man's control, but leaving her a free, independent 
being. Following this, came the temptation and 
the fall of our first parents ; and with the fall came 
a curse upon all things. The serpent was first 
curs"ed ** above all cattle and every beast of the 
field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt 
thou eat all the days of thy life." Cursed above 
all other animals proves to us that a curse must 
have been laid upon all animal life ; and that of the 
serpent exceeded the one imposed upon all about 
it in the position it was to assume, its mode of trav- 
eling, and the food it was to eat. May not the 
curse visited upon the brute creation have been 
the depriving them of the power of making their 
wants known and understood by mankind ? In 
other words, animals were then deprived of the 
power of using the language which up to that time 
had been universal. May not that which we term 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



39 



Instinct in animals be but the remains or traces 
of the power which was once theirs? We do 
not make these assertions as true, but simply sug- 
gest the possibility of such a theory, in order to 
show that woman was created man's equal. Man, 
beasts, and the earth were doomed to the displeas- 
ure of the Almighty ; and now we have arrived at 
the time when woman was placed under man's con- 
trol. The Creator, having promised that her seed 
should bruise the serpent's head, ended His curse 
by saying, "And thy desire shall be to thy hus- 
band, and he shall rule over thee." At last we 
find the exact time when woman was made inferior 
to man by being placed under his rule. Not at 
the creation was there any inferiority ; but woman 
was man's equal in every respect, his companion 
and helpmeet, and the curse pronounced upon her 
made her beneath him only in her rank of servitude. 
From this time until the Christian era, woman's 
condition was that of a menial ; and everywhere in 
history we read of her degradation. Regarded as 
the slave of man, her position was anything but 
enviable; and when we compare her position at the 
present time with her condition centuries ago, it 
appears as though a miracle had been performed. 



40 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

in order to have produced the change which has 
been accomphshed. And still civilization and 
Christianity are progressing, the arts and sciences 
are moving forward, and just so long as there is 
room for improvement in these things, just so long 
will woman's interests be advanced and her con- 
dition elevated. If there was to be a general ces- 
sation of all effort to reach higher attainments in 
all things, and a state of apparent perfection had 
been gained, then we might despair of woman ever 
gaining a higher position than that which she now 
occupies, or of her ever obtaining rights which she 
really needs and should be privileged with. This 
not being the true condition of affairs, why can we 
not measure the future by the past, and with pa- 
tience await the result ? It is impossible for the 
mind to conceive the state of enlightenment which 
may be attained to in a century from now. There 
will be inventions which shall be improvements 
upon things which we now consider perfect. As 
we look back within our own remembrance, we 
can see that science and the arts have progressed 
so rapidly that it has been almost impossible for us 
to keep up with their lightning speed. We must 
know that the future will copy the past only in its 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



41 



ratio of advancement. Then, instead of raising 
this cry for the ballot now with such boldness as 
to shame those who would aid in securing certain 
rights, why not remain quiet in your own, and 
proper, sphere, knowing that whatever seems to 
be wrong now will be righted sooner or later, and 
without any sacrifice of womanly dignity? We 
are bound to believe this, for our reason tells us 
that the time is coming when wrongs will not be 
tolerated. If all the rights which woman needs 
were dependent upon the obtaining of the ballot, 
then we might think that efforts put forth for the 
purpose of gaining it would not be out of place ; 
but such is not the case, for the ballot in the 
hands of women who really need rights would be 
of as little use to them as it now appears to be in 
the hands of man. 

This is not the way to gain the desired object ; 
for man is not so willing to relinquish that which 
belongs to him exclusively, when it is boldly 
demanded of him, as he is willing to yield it vol- 
untarily. Men are not so blind to the present 
necessities of woman as is generally believed, 
though in some cases they are willfully so. They 
perceive the disadvantages under which she is now 



42 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

laboring, and if left to act out their own will, 
woman will not be allowed to suffer, nor will 
she be wronged. 

Feeling the necessity of earnest effort and labor 
in opposition to the cry which is now coming up 
from all parts of the United States, — ay, from 
nearly every portion of the world, — we have 
adopted the present plan, not expecting to accom- 
plish wonders. In the little volume, **As She 
would have It," we attempted to advance every 
reason possible for the securing of woman's rights, 
and in every argument advanced we have been 
thoroughly impressed with the truth of the state- 
ment set forth ; but at the same time we cannot 
believe that upon the ballot depends the advance- 
ment of woman's interests. Thinking to attract 
the attention of those who are styled the " Female 
Suffrage Party," the little book was issued bearing 
upon its face the appearance of coming from one 
of their own number, or at least one who enter- 
tained their views. If they had examined it closely 
and carefully, they would have found everything 
based upon the supposition that the ballot would 
secure to woman her every wish. This we do not 
and cannot believe, for we know there are other 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



43 



means by which the same object — that is, certain 
rights — may be gained and the end more effectually 
secured. Were we to take up the little book page 
by page, or sentence by sentence, we would be 
unable to change the coloring of the book very 
much, so far as the term rights is concerned ; for 
this reason we will only allude to the contents in 
a general way. 

The first chapter, or part, in the little book is 
devoted to the discussion of woman's physical 
ability to take upon herself the responsibilities 
attending suffrage. Those who have opposed the 
giving of the ballot to woman, for reasons they 
have been unable to specify, have made themselves 
almost ridiculous by setting forth, as a reason for 
this opposition, that if woman votes she must be 
willing to take upon herself man's position of toil 
and labor. Such men refuse woman the ballot, 
claiming that she has not the strength necessary 
for such tasks. This reason is, in truth, of too 
little consequence to be considered for any length 
of time ; but, as it has been seized upon by the 
suffragists and carried far and near over the coun- 
try, we could not but flatter them in discussing 
the matter as we did. Still, there is no argument 



44 ^-S IT SHOULD BE. 

advanced which is of so little importance, for we 
know that, although we have our strong ones 
physically among the female sex, yet, as a whole, 
women are not fit to perform men's work. When 
woman has accomplished great things, it has been 
on account of her goodness and patience, rather 
than physical strength. There is no true, noble 
man who would have a mother, wife, sister, or 
daughter of his leave her woman's place in his 
own heart to join actively in the political warfare. 
When questioned as to his reasons for this objec- 
tion, he will give many, perhaps, but none that will 
satisfy us as being of sufficient strength to warrant 
his opposition. In truth, woman is dear to him, 
and, occupying the elevated position which she 
does in his heart, he cannot think of her as delib- 
erately lowering herself in his own estimation, and 
can but feel that she will lower herself in the esti- 
mation of all other men if she uses the ballot. 
Here, in truth, is the real reason for so much 
controversy, while almost everything else is sug- 
gested to conceal the existing state of affairs. 

We reiterate the statement that woman has the 
physical strength necessary to casting a vote ; for 
such a simple act of itself would require nothing 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



45 



more than that which she now possesses. There 
is not one who advances the above referred-to 
reason as an argument who would be wilHng to 
have the women of his own family take upon them- 
selves manual labor, if the ballot were given them 
on condition that they should perform their share 
of such work. They advance a statement which, 
at the moment it is made, they are positive will 
never be carried out. God never designed that 
woman should toil equally with man in severe and 
exhausting labor, although such is of necessity too 
often the case. Her anatomy and organization are 
contrary to this idea of laboring side by side with 
man. Her nature and constitution are proof suffi- 
cient of the truth of what we have just said; and 
for this very same reason we know that woman 
was never designed to be the slave of man. En- 
dowed with a system entirely different from that 
of the sterner sex, it Is evident that she was not 
intended for the same field of labor. 

It is too true that both sexes have degenerated, 
and are daily on the retrograde movement. Man 
— God's noblest work — has been lost sight of, and 
we have the trifling, no-account gentlemen of the 
day ; while women have given place to the mere 

5 



46 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

butterflies of fashion. All that was said in the 
first book in regard to physical culture might be 
repeated here, for too much cannot be said to im- 
press upon the people of both sexes the necessity 
of reform. Nature is crying loudly for redress, 
and her demand must be satisfied, no matter what 
the result may be. Oh that the people might be 
enabled to see their condition just as it is, and what 
the results must be if there is not a great change, 
and thus be enabled to break the chains which now 
bind them ! If woman could gain necessary rights 
through the ballot only, we would say give it to 
her, for her physical strength admits of her accept- 
ing the privilege. If, however, she cannot endure 
the severe toil of man's work (and this suggestion 
has been made in regard to her entering this field 
of action, and advanced by men who would not 
for a moment think of such a thing if suffrage was 
granted her), then this subject of controversy can 
be dropped at once. God having placed man at 
the head of the woman, such must be his position 
until the Creator shall produce the change Himself. 
This does not imply necessarily a superiority of 
intellect in the man, but simply that woman is 
subject unto him. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



47 



After the curse was pronounced, there was a 
means provided whereby all can escape its pangs ; 
but it is seldom you hear the cry of " universal 
suffrage" in homes where this same means has 
been accepted. With Christ came Christianity, and 
with Christianity came the elevation of woman, 
so that, whereas her condition was one of degrada- 
tion, she is now the loved and the honored com- 
panion of man. The work accomplished has been 
a mighty one, for God has been lifting the curse 
which He imposed, and in the coming years we 
have every reason to expect that this elevation will 
continue. God grant that such may be the case ! 
and rather let us wait for new privileges to be given 
freely, willingly, than to lay hold upon them by 
force and wrench them from the grasp of those to 
whom they belong rightfully. Patience will deter- 
mine all things, and for this reason let us cultivate 
this virtue, for while we are thus engaged we shall 
have no time to discuss this subject of voting. 
Anything that we have not in our possession, and 
can only obtain as a gift from another or by our 
boldly laying hold upon the desired object and 
appropriating it by force, is always appreciated far 
more when it comes to us as the free-will offering 



48 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

of another. The enjoyment of the same is in- 
creased ten-fold when such a gift is bestowed will- 
ingly and cheerfully. So, if in the future the ballot 
is found to be absolutely necessary to woman's 
well-being and interests, — for this is something 
which belongs to the future, — then, if it is not 
secured as the free gift of man, let woman ask for 
it, but not until then. 

By many of the women who ask for the ballot 
the position which they have taken has never been 
regarded as a stepping beyond their own sphere, 
for the very reason that woman's sphere has never 
been fully defined in their individual minds ; for 
they seem to be wholly wanting in those finer 
sensibilities which will keep every woman just 
where she belongs. 

In regard to the second part of the book, or 
woman's intellectual ability to become a citizen of 
the United States, we can but repeat what has 
already been said. No one can, in honesty, dis- 
pute the fact that woman's mental powers are suf- 
ficient to warrant the securing of suffrage if it is 
withheld from her on that ground only. This 
objection of her being mentally incompetent to 
vote, is as devoid of reason as the plea of physical 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 49 

inability to perform the same act ; and the same 
may be said of the last part of the book, for we 
cannot believe that the use of the ballot will 
degrade woman. 

Had we considered the arguments which we 
attempted to refute in "As She would have It," as 
the true and only objections men have to placing 
this right in the hands of woman, we would not 
have conveyed the idea to the public that we ap- 
proved of universal suffrage, in order to show how 
weak their objections are. Any woman with the 
usual degree of common sense can perceive the 
absurdity of such reasons ; and this very knowl- 
edge is what calls out the combative nature of 
woman on this subject. She feels that if these are 
all the objections men have to advance, they are 
not enough combined to merit the denial to her 
of this privilege. 

But there are other reasons ; and if men would 
only boldly define them, even though they give to 
them the appearance of being somewhat weak, 
woman would accept the true reasons gladly, and 
many of them would be satisfied. We do not pro- 
pose to refute arguments already advanced with 
arguments of a negative character, but rather by 

5* 



50 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

the setting forth of ideas which, we trust, will find 
a responsive echo in the heart of every true, noble 
woman. We are pained and surprised that so 
many are influenced by what is being said in favor 
of the ballot being given to woman, and we ask 
that every one will consider this matter candidly. 
It is absolutely necessary that this should be done, 
for we fear that the day is not far distant when this 
question must be decided, and this can be done 
only by each woman giving an individual reply. 
Many think that the interest in this subject is de- 
creasing, and there is nothing more to fear ; but 
such is not the case, for there never was a time 
when the female suffrage party was more deter- 
mined to secure the ballot than it is at the present 
time. To avoid a calamity, every woman must fit 
herself for an expression upon a subject which is 
of more importance to her than she is aware of 
In anticipation of this, we would now use every 
effort possible to influence woman to follow the 
dictates of her own conscience. 



II- 

The first great objection we have to the ballot 
being given woman, is that she has the power of 
controlling the world at the present time. 

" Oh, wondrous power ! how little understood ! 
Entrusted to the mother's mind alone 
To fashion genius, form the soul for good." 

She has the secret of power within her own 
grasp, and if rightly used it will purify the whole 
world and elevate woman at the same time. What 
is this power, do you ask ? It is the moulding of 
the infant mind, — the making of first im.pressions, 
which are always the most lasting. " If such be 
the case, then, why does she not control the 
world ?" asks one. Sad to relate, she does control 
the world to a far greater extent than she will admit 
or men allow ; and the reason of our government 
being what it is, is because woman has failed to 
perform her duty. Oh, could mothers look into 
the future of their children, and there behold the 
result of their teachings or the result of their 
neglect to teach them, how differently they would 

51 



52 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



watch over and guard those early years! The 
world is made up of individuals, and our govern- 
ment is the result of individual minds. Is not this 
a sufficient reason for anxiety on the part of every 
mother ? Just here arises a question which has 
been discussed thoroughly, some claiming that we 
are just what we make ourselves, while others are 
as firmly established in their belief that we are the 
creatures of circumstances. If we are just what 
we make ourselves, then the mother's teaching is 
a thankless task, and home influence is as nothing 
upon the memory of man. 

We admit that the will is an almost unlimited 
power ; but at the same time we most firmly be- 
lieve that we all have been moulded and shaped, 
more or less, by circumstances, for there was a 
time in our history when we scarcely realized that 
we had a will. At this very time there were many 
agencies instilling lessons into our minds which 
we had not the power to resist, and these very les- 
sons, taught years ago, did much toward making 
us what we are. This early time is the season for 
the mother to sow the seeds of truth, uprightness, 
and morality, which shall in after-years bring forth 
fruit to her own joy. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 53 

We consider the mother's work upon the infant 
mind the most important argument we have to 
make in opposition to female suffrage, and for this 
reason shall discuss it at some length, so that we 
may be able to show how the infant mind is 
moulded, and define the work there is for woman 
to do. 

At this very time of mature years there are in- 
fluences at work upon us, of whose power we are 
perfectly ignorant. 'Tis true we have our wills in 
their full strength, but yet the work is carried on 
in such an imperceptible manner we do not real- 
ize what is being done. If these very influences 
were boldly defined before us, the will would meet 
them, and, if they were good, would accept them, 
while, if they were evil, they would be ejected from 
the mind at once. As it is, the work is carried on 
so secretly that we are aware of nothing new or 
strange until the desired result has been secured 
and the fact presents itself before us in full force. 

If such be the case when the will is stationed 
as a guard to prevent the entrance of a foe, how 
must the infant mind have been acted upon before 
the will could be exercised ! 

Let us begin with the beginning of this matter, 



54 ^^"^^ IT SHOULD BE. 

so tliat vvc may understand the case thoroughly. 
When the tiny h'ttle being is launched out upon 
its life-voyage, wlien it starts on its j^ilgrimage to 
one of earth's graves, it may be said to be endowed 
with that which is in itself a prophecy of its whole 
future life. This same germ contains our whole 
mortal — yes, more, our immortal — career. The 
soul is, indeed, the seed from which all subsequent 
qualities and deeds must be garnered. This little 
mystery is an eternity in embryo ; in fact, it is all 
we then are, and all we shall ever be, — it is the 
whole of us unevolved. The spirit, enclosed in a 
tiny, baby form, contains the whole idea and theory 
of a man. In it all the plans of a Divine Being in 
relation to a human creature are embodied ; and 
more than this, there is in every infant the divine 
plan and outline of a particular man, a definite and 
distinct individual. For a person to have been 
educed from any other soul-germ, save that special 
one with which God Himself endowed him at the 
time of his birth, would be as really a violation of 
law as would be the springing up of a forest from 
a seed-field of wheat. We have no sympathy with 
the Darwinian theory, for we believe that God has 
endowed each individual with his own particular 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 55 



soul, and we regard the transmutation of such an 
impossibility. 

Let us question still further, and penetrate a little 
deeper into this mystery, by asking how it is that 
each new-born child is what it is. How is it that 
it is possessed of such strange ways and peculiar- 
ities as to distinguish it from ever}.' other member 
of the whole human family, and to warrant the 
giving to it of a separate and distinct name ? What 
think you ? Is it not wonderful ? It is certain 
that we were made possessors of these very pecu- 
liarities without any knowledge of what was being 
done on our part. Our opinion was not consulted 
as to whether this or that would be agreeable, or 
whether the possession of certain traits of character 
would be in accordance with our own taste. No, 
never by thought, word, or deed, did we aid or 
assist in the operation. Far away back, as far as 
memory can read the book of its own writing, we 
find no note made of such a transaction. The very 
first thing we did realize was the existence of these 
very things which so distinguished us from ail 
those about us. 

All this was accomplished in what might be 
termed the pre-historic time of our being. It was 



56 AS IT SHOULD BE, 

a hope we always cherished, that, as we advanced 
in years, we might be enabled to unravel this won- 
derful mystery to a certain extent. We expected 
that, as years enlarged our capacity for thought 
and matured our powers of reasoning, aided by 
observation and reflection, we would be able to 
explore this pre-historic time ; but we find it hardly 
more difficult to explain this part of our life-his- 
tory than it is that which we lived last year, or 
even yesterday. This much we do know, how- 
ever, and can assert with perfect safety, that we are 
the counterparts of our predecessors, our proge- 
nitors being our fathers and mothers. 

We read in Holy Writ that before the creation 
everything was void and without form, nothing but 
chaos on every hand ; but from out that very chaos 
the brooding spirit of God brought forth the beau- 
tiful world in which we live. So each of the dif- 
ferent periods into which the earth's duration has 
been divided, as they have come and gone, being 
brooded upon by the same spirit, became the fer- 
tile chaos out of which its fairer successor was 
brought. One was the child of the other, — it might 
be said, created in the same image, but different 
and far more beautiful ; even as the son is the 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



57 



mended and Improved Image of his sire. We can- 
not say that the son is the Improved Image of his 
sire In these later days, for such is not the case ; so 
we must now say as the son ought to be the im- 
proved Image of his father. If the natural and 
physical laws of our beings had never been dis- 
obeyed, such would have been true of children 
to-day ; but they have been trampled upon and 
broken, and, as the result, we have sons far Inferior 
to their ancestors. Nevertheless, we are In truth 
the most faithful repetitions of our immediate 
ancestors. 

Many will object to this statement, and will cite 
numerous cases where there Is scarcely a trace of 
resemblance existing between parents and children. 
In reply to such citations, we would say that we are 
wholly explained only by traversing our whole life- 
history from the creation and examining the man 
Adam. In fact, the whole past may be regarded 
as a depository of causes to which we, as individ- 
uals, are Indebted for many of what are termed 
our " unnatural traits of character." The long six 
thousand years which have passed away since 
** The Beginning" are a vast field, into whose soil 
we strike our roots to obtain nourishment. From 

6 



58 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



Egypt and ancient Palestine — from the hard- 
hearted Pharaoh and the sweet singer, David — 
from Alexander, the conquering hero, from Plato 
and Caesar — from the blinding human dust of 
Greece, and from mouldering Rome — from the 
history of the Middle Ages, filled with the dis- 
solving remains of great empires and stately civili- 
zations which are no more- — from Goth and Vandal 
— from the soil of the whole great past, enriched 
by the blood of the noblest and best of men, while 
tears have been poured out upon it like rain, and 
decaying wrecks are plainly seen on every hand — 
from all these things we derive our vitality and 
are naturally what we are. 

In thinking of the soul and its relation and close 
connection with the times and things long since 
gone by, we can call it an accumulation of drift, 
and looking into and examining the structure 
may reveal to us things which once existed. It 
may be that we shall find a beam from fallen Baby- 
lon, a column from among the Grecian antiqui- 
ties, a slab of beautiful marble from Rome, a stone 
or turret from the now dimmed splendors of medi- 
aeval greatness and pomp, a deposit of gold from 
the mighty eloquence of Cicero, and, in fact, all 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



59 



manner of precious stones, jasper, sapphire, eme- 
rald and amethyst, from the courage of Paul, the 
love of John, the repentance and sorrow of Peter, 
the sweet, dutiful obedience of Mary, and the mani- 
fest virtues of the heroes of every day. Time may 
be regarded as a stream, while the ages flow on 
rapidly, and, as the result, the souls which are 
constantly coming into existence are deposits from 
this same current, so like the persons and things 
gone by are they. 

This disposition within us to do right or wrong 
came not to us with our knowledge certainly, just 
so far as it may be indebted to the germ-time 
in our history and the drift of the past ages, by 
which this very germ received its cast and quality ; 
and in truth it may be said that this disposition to 
do right in a person is as it is, because it is in the 
soul and not the man. Every existing Christian 
virtue takes its hue from the spiritual kernel which 
was lodged in these bodies when we began our 
existence. No renovation made by the Divine 
Spirit afterwards, no influence for good, however 
powerful, can completely blot out our original 
selves. All such work for good is instituted and 
carried forward on this basis, this foundation of our 



6o AS IT SHOULD BE. 

first endowment ; and it will be plain forever and 
forever in just what grade of God's creatures, and 
with what kind of an outfit, we set out upon our 
life -journey. The mother's early influence and 
teachings must be felt throughout the endless ages 
of eternity. 

The same is true of any vice, if we are vicious, 
for it will eternally tell of our beginning, and will 
make known to the world our pedigree and the 
baby germ from which we were evolved. The vice 
of the child too often tells the history of the 
parents, even to their secret life. 

We do not for one moment dispute the power 
that there is in Christianity to enable a man to 
control the natural evil impulses of his heart ; but 
while it aids him in keeping these things in sub- 
jection, and acts like a mighty controlling power 
upon him, it does not annihilate that which is 
natural. Nothing is destroyed, but much subdued. 

By this time, you are questioning the use of 
what we have just written, and what practical 
bearing it can possibly have upon the power of 
woman at the present time. We feel that this subject 
has much to do with the question ; and, though we 
may fail to make ourselves understood by all in the 



AS IT SHOULD BE. ^l 

explanation we may make, still, if we succeed in 
stimulating minds to reach out after truths for 
themselves, we shall be satisfied. 

The question is now asked by some, "What 
possible good can accrue to us from our attempts to 
penetrate these mysteries, to ascertain something 
in regard to the timbers out of which we are made, 
mentally and morally, if we have had no voice in 
ordering our places in the scale of humanity?" 
*' If certain attributes which are peculiar to us 
were a part of us at the time of our birth, what 
good can result to us if we still continue making 
efforts to understand ourselves ?" Much good will 
be the result, far more than is possible for us to 
tell you now. 

There are two ways in which we can all 'be bene- 
fited by examining this subject, or, at least, they 
are the only two we will mention here. We may 
say that we all have more or less curiosity, which 
is laudable in itself, to find out how it was with us 
when we were very young, and how certain results 
have been brought about. Many questions per- 
taining to theology, which are of no particular 
interest to us at this time, find their only solution 
and answer in that region of our infant life to 



62 y^S IT SHOULD BE. 

which we have just referred. Then, too, thoughts 
which such an examination must engender foster 
a sense of our entire dependence upon something 
outside of self We are led to see what we are by 
nature, and what we have acquired from the world 
about us. The second way of being benefited is, 
we may say, the practical issue of what we have 
been writing. As it seems to be the plan of the 
Infinite to mould children in the likeness of their 
parents, and to make each generation, or each 
period in the passage of the generations, merely a 
beautiful and amended repetition of its predecessor, 
we cannot fail to perceive that those who are to 
come after us are very much at the mercy of those 
who are now living. This is a subject of fearful 
importance, and it is impossible for us to define the 
pressure of the obligation we owe to those who 
shall be next to us in the future. If the infant 
minds which are daily brought into existence are 
unconsciously and helplessly wrought upon by our 
dispositions, and impressed with our lineaments, — 
if the small, but most vital, most sacred germs of 
souls by which they are animated, and which are 
to color and tint the whole after-current of their 
lives, and from which their entire future is to be 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 63 

unfolded, are what they are because we are the 
men and women we are, then we should be careful, 
and see to it that we make ourselves fit to be thus 
copied and multiplied. Where is there a man who 
would wish other men to be like him in every' re- 
spect, or a woman who would have her daughter 
the exact counterpart of herself? It is impos- 
sible to find such an one; and yet the children of 
such persons must be the copies of their prede- 
cessors. 

We do not maintain that Christian piety is a 
transmissible excellence, exactly, and that the off- 
spring of Christian parents are endowed with their 
virtues at birth, thus setting out in life at an ad- 
vantage, — starting, indeed, just where their parents 
gave up the conflict and entered into rest. If this 
were the case, such children would be likely to 
reach heights of goodness and attain that perfec- 
tion of character which their ancestors could only 
see in the dim distance, and which children of 
ungodly people may never scale. This, however, 
does not seem to be the exact plan which has 
been made and ordained by the great Creator. 
And yet we have but little, if any, reason to 
doubt that children do inherit faculties and im- 



64 ^S IT SHOULD BE. ' 

pulses which are strictly moral in every sense of 
the word. Indeed, the posterity of continent, well- 
balanced, sunny-tempered, God-fearing ancestry, 
show it in their very constitution, and are very 
susceptible to all influences tending for good. Do 
not mistake the exact meaning of what we have 
just said, and think we have advanced the idea 
that some children are good in spite of themselves, 
for we have not gone so far as that; we simply 
make the following statement. 

Taking life as but a trial for eternity, we think 
there is some choice between the children born, — 
a choice founded on the known qualities of their an- 
cestors, for we regard one better fitted for the moral 
struggle and conflict than another. Facts prove to 
us that this assertion is founded upon truth, for they 
accord well with this very idea, and really support 
it strongly. 

For example, drunkenness is often obviously 
hereditary. One may tipple and spend his time in 
debauchery until his physical system is completely 
deranged and the different organs refuse their re- 
sponse when called forth into action. As soon as 
such a thing occurs, then the appetite has its foun- 
dation in disease, and the derangement of the 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 65 

physical organs may be transmitted, with all its 
accompanying- impulses and desires. In this way 
the child of a drunkard is often a drunkard, on 
account of this very appetite, which descended 
from parent to child. 

Thus these appetites and impulses, which are 
often so strong as to become fire in the bones of 
ancestors, become the legacy of children without 
any voluntary act of acceptance on their part. A 
strong tendency to thieving in the parent is often 
repeated in the child, while liars beget liars. Lib- 
ertines send down their views, the infinite greedi- 
ness of their lusts, their disgusting animalism ; and 
those upon whom this curse is entailed run off into 
the same rebellion against natural and divine laws 
as their predecessors. This is true of monoma- 
niacs and the different forms of insanity. Now, to 
be free from all these terrible evils and blighting 
curses, is a blessing we do not fully appreciate ; 
but if we could converse with those who know 
what it is to suffer entailed misery, they would tell 
you that, were the whole world theirs, they would 
relinquish it, if by so doing they might be freed 
from the curse left them by their parents. For 
this reason we are licensed to say that the child 



66 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

who commences its life free from all these evils has 
by far the best start in life, and is naturally more 
inclined toward the paths of rectitude and virtue 
than are those who are trammeled on every hand 
with hereditary vices. 

Here a question may be asked which may aid 
us in accepting the assertion just made. If we 
suppose that the purity and Christian lives of pa- 
rents are not hereditary blessings to their children 
in a certain degree, how can we call the life of the 
human race a progress, and this progress a devel- 
opment towards a higher state of living ? The 
improvement, advancement, and gains of one gen- 
eration can be sent down to the next in only two 
ways. The first is by the books we write, the in- 
stitutions we establish, the innumerable forms of 
thought and feeling which are current among us, 
the social laws, usages, and pet theories which we 
adopt, the hopes, desires, and ambitions which we 
cherish, and the things, multitudinous in number, 
which exist outside the mind. All these things 
may often serve as fortunate outward exponents 
for those who shall come after us. If this is the 
only means we have of transmitting our moral 
gains to the next generation, we can but ask if all 



ylS IT SHOULD BE. 6/ 

are satisfied with the mediums through which all 
our higher and purer thoughts are to be delivered 
to our children ? 

The second way is by passing through vital 
channels, which makes whatever is transmitted a 
part of ourselves, the passing from soul to soul of 
the gathered treasures of each age. If this last 
method is ignored and rejected — if it is considered 
of no importance to be born of men who in char- 
acter and disposition most resemble angels rather 
than of those whose nature appears to be impreg- 
nated with the desires of Satan himself — if it is 
still maintained that the moral type of life is un- 
transmissible — then there is left to us only one way 
of blessing the coming years and elevating the 
world, and that is by our individual earnest labors. 
We must put forth every effort to surround those 
who shall succeed us with better external moral 
conditions than those into which we were born. 

Still, we cannot regard this as sufficient in itself 
to warrant our calling each age an improvement on 
its predecessor in regard to morals. In order to 
carry out the plan of advancement as we under- 
stand it, it seems necessary that the good men of 
our time should touch those next to them more 



68 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

inwardly than any external teaching can penetrate. 
Unless this be possible, it is useless for us to talk 
of a vital, moral bond which is regarded as the 
connecting link between the ages. We must ever 
think of this connection as something which is 
simply outward, something mechanical, with no 
real living principle as its strength and basis. But 
this is not enough, we repeat, to make of human 
history a development, for the history of each suc- 
ceeding age will only be a repetition of those which 
are forever gone. 

This subject is a large and fruitful one ; but, as 
a further discussion of it is unnecessary for our 
present purpose, we drop it here and take a step 
forward. Enough — plenty — has been said to make 
known our speculation touching the beginning of 
our lives and the unobserved Avay in which things 
of the past ages had a bearing upon our character. 
This examination has not been without profit to 
us, for we have been led to realize more fully the 
responsibilities of the present age to those who 
shall follow us. 

Thus far we have spoken only of our original 
constitution ; but, leaving this the earliest time, we 
descend a few steps and pass through the pleasant 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



69 



and never-to-be-forgotten region of our life-his- 
tory which we call childhood. During the years 
of this period, we cannot fail to observe how indus- 
triously we were worked upon and fashioned by 
all kinds of forces. It would appear as though 
men and things took advantage of our flexible, 
plastic nature and our utter incapacity to observe 
for ourselves, and labored, toiled, and, I was going 
to say, experimented upon us as men do in har- 
vest-time, when the whole year of time is staked 
upon a few days only. And why should they not? 
for they hope and expect in this formative period 
to settle forever our traits of character and to 
establish firmly the peculiarities of our disposition. 
We have always believed that the most impor- 
tant and most controlling part of our education is 
received in these very early days we have spoken 
of, when we were almost entirely ignorant and had 
never conceived the idea that at that time we were 
in a process of education. Children are first sent 
to school between the ages of six and ten years, and 
it is then said that their education or training has 
commenced ; but this is a great mistake, for years 
before this time they began to receive impressions, 
and have already been in the hands of a thousand 

7 



70 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



masters. Even after they begin their school-Hfe, 
and are subjected to the four or six hours' drill in 
the school-room, this drill may be considered as 
only a fractional part of the education they are 
then receiving ; and a very small part of this is 
received in the school-room. The hours of the 
day when they are not in the school-room are 
occupied by many — yes, very many — teachers, 
who take their young minds in hand, and an incal- 
culable amount of gratuitous work is performed 
upon them. 

This is the impressible period of life, and the 
silent passage of an imponderable shadow over the 
mind leaves a far more lasting trace than the 
plowshare of a considerable sorrow does in later 
and less susceptible years. Such a thing seems 
almost impossible upon first thought, for we are 
accustomed to think that wounds upon young 
hearts speedily heal, while older ones bruised 
never recover. The pain is considered too acute, 
and the arrow penetrates to their very vitality, so 
that they go to their graves with hearts broken 
and crushed. 

If we will only sit down and examine ourselves, 
allowing memory to wander back into the past 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



71 



just as far as it can find its way among the laby- 
rinths of time and events, we will be forced to 
admit that the impression we can recall as having 
been the first received has been the most lasting, 
and has entered more largely into the formation 
of our character than those of later years. We 
never forget anything, although occurrences will 
pass beyond the scope of our present thoughts ; 
but it may only require a single word or a look to 
bring from the great store-house of remembrance 
something we may not have thought of for years. 
If a grief of childhood does not remain long visi- 
ble in outward appearances, it goes down deep, 
very deep, into the heart, and in some special way 
makes our hereafter evermore different. A stream 
stirred at its source is made muddy the whole 
length of its course, while a commotion near its 
mouth is of little consequence. So with a human 
life. Whatever is done at its springs — that is, 
during these early years, while the mind is so flex- 
ible — is most effectually done, and can be seen in 
all the future of that life, — yes, henceforth and 
eternally. 

There comes to our mind an illustration at this 
very moment, which brings out clearly the idea 



;2 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



we wish to convey. While in Washington, we 
were fortunate enough to secure the privilege of 
visiting the Printing and Engraving Bureau in the 
Treasury Department. Particular pains were taken 
to explain to us the art of engraving, and we were 
allowed to view various plates in the hands of the 
workmen. After this we were conducted to a 
small room in which we saw only one man busily 
engaged with a machine which is called the circu- 
lar lathe. With this machine all the plates for the 
different stamps are prepared, which the careless 
observer scarcely notices as the paper money 
passes through his hands. The workman then 
proceeded to explain and show to us the working 
of the instrument. One by one the delicate lines 
were made in the steel until the surface was so 
filled that, as we glanced through the microscope, 
it seemed like a piece of lace-work ; and yet the 
first line made upon the polished surface was as dis- 
tinct as the last, and may be said to be more lasting, 
for, in spite of the innumerable crossing of after- 
lines, the first had not lost its identity. The work- 
man can never make two plates alike, for the ma- 
chine can never be so adjusted and regulated as to 
make two patterns alike. Days are often spent in 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



73 



tracing the lines on one little plate ; but, when 
completed, examination will prove it to be a beau- 
tiful piece of work. In spite of this time spent in 
the work of crossing and recrossing the first lines, 
they never lose their identity. 

Oh mothers ! women ! do you gain glimpses 
yet of what your work is and the great power you 
hold in your own hands ? Our early years, these 
very first years, are by far the most receptive pe- 
riod of our lives. Every thing is new and attract- 
ive, and we can do nothing but just imbibe. We 
are in fact, very much like sponges, for we seem 
to absorb every thing that touches us or comes 
within our reach. The power of using the will to 
resist the influences of persons and things is not 
yet sufficiently developed to aid the young mind 
in choosing for itself We have the will, but it is 
not yet awakened to the office of intelligent self- 
defense against those things which, in themselves, 
are of such importance as to require an intelligent 
choice of either acceptance or rejection. 

The little mind may be termed a virgin-soil ; and 
in this soil whoever wishes may plow and plant, 
using seed of his own selection, with the expecta- 
tion of an abundant harvest. Such soil as this is 



74 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



not allowed to remain unimproved for any length 
of time. Hosts of workmen seize upon it, each 
one being anxious to secure free and full posses- 
sion, thinking to appropriate the whole to his own 
use. It seems as though the very winds of heaven 
sow broadcast here, there, and everywhere in this 
promising field, while persons, things, and the 
influence of those gone on before unite in their 
efforts to cultivate the seed sown. 

Among the very first tutors in our early educa- 
tion, we rank nature and her attributes ; and we 
claim that the part she takes is beyond our powers 
of comprehension. We claim this especially on 
the ground that at first we are wholly given to 
reception through the senses, and we are made 
acquainted with the new, strange world into which 
we are ushered by the eye, ear, and hand. As we 
grow older we advance in methods and inquiries ; 
but at the outset the means just spoken of are all 
we have by which we can satisfy our questionings. 
Never in all our after-years do we pass under the 
care and discipline of an earthly teacher better 
qualified and fitted to mould and shape our minds 
than this one. Oh how grateful we ought to be 
for those influences which, if we will only allow 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



75 



ourselves to be benefited by them in after-years, 
when our wills have become sufficiently matured 
to choose for themselves, will make of us far better 
men and women ! 

Look at the many things which nature has 
placed about the young to please. In the lovely 
hues of summer flowers — the glorious tints of au- 
tumn, while the breeze plays among the leaves, 
moving them here and there for our joy — the great 
silvery moon, ever an object of wonder and inter- 
est to the young — the deep, unfathomable blue of 
God's arch above, studded with myriads of bright, 
twinkling stars — the grandeur of the sunrise- — the 
shadows cast by fleecy clouds at noon — the golden 
rays of the departing monarch of the day as they 
linger on the western sky as if loath to depart — in 
all these things there is something to please the 
infant eye and aid in its enjoyment, while at the 
same time the soul is being beautified. 

The crashing of the thunder as it fills the earth 
with its terrible rumbling — the dashing of the 
waves upon the beach, or the breakers upon the 
rocks — the soft babbling of the tiny little stream 
as it winds its way through the meadow — the patter 
of the rain-drops as they fall one by one to refresh 



;6 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

the thirsty earth — the howling fury of the storm, 
and the soft whispering of the slightest zephyr — 
the songs of birds, from the clear, loud, ringing 
notes of the best songsters to the almost imper- 
ceptible twitter of the most insignificant of the 
feathered tribe — all fall upon the ear to please or 
fill with awe. 

The office of the hand, in making us acquainted 
with the world about us, is at first to bring things 
within our reach close to us for our amusement, or 
that we may examine them. As we grow older, 
we are taught lessons of wisdom which we are not 
likely to forget. The fire may please the eye, but 
it is by the scorching of the hand that we are taught 
to avoid it. The blushing rose may entrance the 
vision with its beauty, but the hand will find the 
the hidden thorn. With years there comes a 
maturity of intellect, and we are enabled to recog- 
nize the hand of the great Creator in every natural 
object about us. 

But there were other tutors in those infant days; 
and one we must speak of in particular, which 
seemed to have innumerable hands as well as 
tongues. This tutor we know as Home, and the 
work it accomplishes is truly wonderful. Oh 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 



77 



that we could say that this teacher was always 
perfect and correct in her instructions ; but such 
is not the case, for we carry the scars of her mis- 
takes now. They injured us some, too, and we 
never expect to recover fully from this injury; but 
she was a good instructor for all that, and, of all 
the tutors who then had us under their care, there 
is but one dearer to us than home. 

As we think of her, the loving voice, so familiar 
in days gone by, is still musical in our memory 
and never can the sweet associations which hang 
about her name be destroyed. She taught us many 
lessons, and taught them, too, in many ways. The 
very place where we dwelt appears to have been 
inspired of her to assist in impressing upon our 
minds lessons never to be forgotten. It seems as 
though every nook and corner must have been 
freighted with lessons, for they all come before us 
now. The old fire-place, with its blazing logs, 
around which the family delighted to gather after 
the labors of the day were over — the low-whispered 
words spoken lest the old people might be dis- 
turbed, for they were already nodding in their 
chairs, though the twilight shadows had scarcely 
closed about them — the games and friendly strife, 



78 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

books, nuts, and all good cheer remind us of the 
past, and tell us how vividly these scenes were 
imprinted upon our young minds. By the little 
family jars and the reconciliations which followed — 
by the family songs and sweet, hallowed times of 
prayer — by the self-important manner and would- 
be supremacy of the elder members of the family, 
and their many little acts of kindness and assist- 
ance to those who were younger — by the cherished 
anticipations of joy and pleasure for the whole, and 
their disappointments, afflictions, and tears — by the 
days when others came and, by the holy rite of 
marriage, claimed those who had always been ours 
— by the days, too, when a grim, silent messenger 
entered our home unobserved and took unto him- 
self dear ones for another world; yes, by the 
white robes of the bride and the spotless raiment 
of the dead — by the empty chair which could 
never be filled, and the ended, merry laugh and 
silent voice, which would never more make our 
hearts glad with its cheery " good-morning" and 
quiet *' good-night" — by the empty cradle put 
away where loving eyes could not see that re- 
minder of the lost one — by the quivering lip and 
moistened eyes when chance brought this object in 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



79 



view — by the blessed, joyous, thanksgiving times 
when the old home was made merry by the girls 
and noisy by the boys — by the ** Merry Christ- 
mas" and "Happy New-Year's" gifts, some of which 
are now sacredly preserved by us — by the mysteries 
of the quaint old garret, where we scarcely dared 
venture for many a day — by the wonders of art 
displayed on the papered walls, on account of the 
grotesque figures and the unheard-of vines and 
flowers — by the different hues which furnished us 
with so much amusement in our infant days — by the 
old trees which ever stood ready to shelter us be- 
neath their cool shade, and whose shadows fell 
across the well-worn threshold — by the mark which 
always told us when the sun had climbed to the 
meridian — by the never-to-be-forgotten rainy days 
which converted the old house into a prison, and 
warranted us in putting everything out of place — 
by the solemn Sabbath days which were always 
seven times longer than any other day in the 
week — by all these things, and many more, this 
good teacher was conveying to us lessons and 
taking an eternal hold upon our hearts. 

We received the discipline of other tutors whose 
names we need not give ; but we feel sure that our 



8o AS IT SHOULD BE, 

education was fully half over when we emerged 
from early childhood, and before we had even en- 
tered the school-room, while the succeeding years 
only served to enlarge and mature the impressions 
already received. 

We have presented this subject in detail, and as 
yet have made no particular application of it to 
the question we set out with. We regard this early 
work as the one important element to be consid- 
ered, in connection with woman's sphere at least, 
and have entered into it thus minutely in order 
that every woman, if she have precious infant minds 
committed to her keeping, may be made to under- 
stand the importance of her mission. When nature 
and home have had so much to do with our early 
training, has she who is the chief attraction of that 
home had nothing to do with our early history ? 
While all our early teachers were so busily at work 
with us, and in their silence doing wonders, had 
she, whose voice was the sweetest music that 
fell upon our infant ears, no part in making us 
what we are ? Ah, yes : nature did much for us ; 
home did much more ; but mother did more for us 
than all other teachers combined. As we look 
back upon our early life, how vividly our mother's 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 8 1 

face comes up before us, and how distinctly we re- 
member her every act ! While we find thousands 
of instances where her love was manifested toward 
us, we cannot forget the impatient words uttered 
in hasty anger. The two are so intimately con- 
nected that it is impossible to separate them. Her 
influence upon all is in proportion for good or evil 
as her duty is performed or neglected. Oh that 
we had that eloquence of language which would 
enable us to present the truth in such a manner as 
would awaken all to a sense of the importance of 
the trust each mother has in her keeping, the un- 
limited power which is hers, if she will only use 
it, and the responsibilities which are upon her for 
which she will be held accountable in the future! 
As we look upon woman to-day, we regard her as 
the means which shall bring to the country a 
future of prosperity or adversity, for she is the 
master-workman engaged in preparing the young 
for a life of well-doing or of crime. Women ought 
to be censured — many of them at least — for the 
present condition of affairs, and we have a right 
to demand of them, as a duty they owe to the 
world, to work diligently and not ignorantly in 
training their children for usefulness. Their work 



82 ^-S ^T SHOULD BE. 

is among the first, and their teachings will forever 
tell upon the life of their offspring. 

The influence which the young are constantly, 
and, at the same time, unconsciously receiving 
is grievously underrated, and we seem to forget 
that the most common trivial occurrence in our 
everyday life may have untold power over them. 
Often the question is asked why the children of 
wealthy and refined parents are so often rude, 
and vicious even, in their manners ? In reply we 
would say that this is the result of their early 
education having been neglected, or of its having 
been intrusted to the care of those wholly unfitted 
for the task. 

In families where wealth abounds, the young 
children are given up almost entirely to the care of 
the nurse. The demands of fashion and the im- 
mediate care of children cannot be attended to at 
the same time. The mother must relinquish the 
one or the other, and, sad to relate, the children 
are put aside at just that age when the impressions 
which shall color, to a great extent, their whole 
after-lives, are being received. If all the nurses 
were educated and lady-like, these children might 
be left to their care with less impunity than at the 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 83 

present time. They may appear perfectly gentle 
and lady-like in your presence, but could you see 
them when they have taken your children out and 
have met some of their own companions, and listen 
to their conversation, you would be startled as well 
as surprised. The coarse, vulgar language which 
is an index of coarse, vulgar minds, and the any- 
thing but modesty of manners, are not without a 
great effect upon the little minds with which they 
are associated. They are just right to be moulded 
and shaped at the will of those about them, and 
yet mothers are so blind to this that they will trust 
them to the tutorship of uncultivated minds with- 
out a single thought as to the result. Their own 
gentle words, prompted by a mother's great heart 
of love, should be those most familiar to the little 
ones' ear, on account of their being the most 
frequently heard. 

We do believe if woman could be made to realize 
how much depends upon the first impressions re- 
ceived, she would not, dare not, give up the sacred 
trust of teacher, as well as mother, to those whose 
influence, if not directly on the side of wrong, is 
certainly not of that nature necessary to guide the 
young mind. 



84 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

This very idea has often been thoroughly illus- 
trated in the South, where the care of the children 
was intrusted to the colored servants. Their 
** mammies" were the best-hearted people in the 
world, and were devoted, generally, to the children 
of their master. For this reason they were always 
considered beautiful, and the daughters in the 
family, as they became old enough to know what 
was said to them, had their minds thoroughly filled 
with thoughts of their own beauty, for mammy 
always told them they were beautiful. As the 
years rolled on, the result of such teachings was 
only too sadly visible in the faded, ruined, broken- 
hearted woman, young, and yet so terribly old in 
sin. Then, too, their superstitions and fears were 
early imparted to the little ones, and these ideas 
have followed them to the very grave. 

Flattery, which has ruined so many, and which 
in all probability will ruin many, many more, should 
never find a place in home-teaching. It is an at- 
tribute of the world, and is in itself as void of real 
meaning as the hearts of those given to this folly 
are devoid of all sincerity. Children will meet this 
soon enough — will be pleased with it, maybe ; but 
should they by experience be enabled to under- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 85 

stand the nature of the world generally, and that 
all people were more or less inclined to flatter? Oh, 
mothers, would you have your opinions and views 
classed with the outside world, because you flattered 
your children or allowed such a thing to be tol- 
erated in your home government? It is well to 
commend and encourage your children in well 
doing, but not one word of flattery is necessary to 
do this. Let your actions speak to your posterity 
more plainly than words, and cause them to feel 
your approval, rather than be obliged constantly to 
force upon them words which they are to regard 
as your commendation. 

A mother can do more in three years towards a 
child's education at a very early age, than she can 
in ten years after the child has attained the age of 
ten years. Could all understand a mother's mis- 
sion fully, there would be far less controversy in 
regard to woman's sphere. Not only mothers, but 
all those to whom the care of precious little minds 
are intrusted. Oh! mothers — women — a nation's 
prosperity and success depends to a great extent 
upon your labors ! yes, more: you are moulding the 
future of the nation, and you can color it for your 
own good or your own injury. Oh that you could 

8* 



S6 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

be made fully alive to the truth of this statement, 
and would take up your woman's work, as God 
intended you should ! If you would only put away 
these foolish ideas of universal suffrage, and accept 
an equal amount of interest in universal and com- 
bined effort among woman to elevate her own sex, 
and those about her, in true Christian virtues, the 
benefits which would result would be incalculable 
in the good accomplished. Mothers, we entreat of 
you, relinquish your hold upon society, and take 
upon yourselves the education and early training of 
your children, looking upon this work as something 
too sacred to be placed in the hands of a stranger, 
and as a trust, too, for which you will be held ac- 
countable in the hereafter. Instill into their minds, 
first of all, those principles of right and wrong 
which must govern and control them through life. 
Bring them in contact with nature and natural 
scenery, that they may be led to admire the beauti- 
ful while very young; for this, though it may appear 
of but little consequence now, in after-years may 
do much for them in elevating thought. Teach 
them to uphold the right at all times in spite of 
public opinion, for at the present time truth and 
justice, as well as the right, are crushed beneath the 



ylS IT SIIOri.D UK. 87 

Iri't of lluvsr who woiiKl v\v\\ class IhtMiisclvcs on 
the silk" i^r pi>|uil.u- piiMii- opinion. And which is 
thr po])iil.u- siclc\ clo \o\\ ask? Why, llic nu)nc\-ccl 
silk- to ho suro. It niattors not thoui;li {\\v hoart 
hi" hnt a wliitoil sopukhtc, as coniipt as tlio in- 
k-rnal roi;ions ihcniscKos; as holK>\v, haso, and 
sinister in purpose as lio wlio ruk\s tho al)ovc- 
namod roi;ions. Mom^)' co\oroth all thosi^ things; 
aiul in tho o)'os (^{ nian\' thoso o\ils aio as though 
the)' wiMV ni^t, il' tho\- can onl)- sc\ini" the iu)0(.l 
will ot suih an owe. 

The L^ood hook tolls us that " charit)' hidcth a 
nuillitudc i>r sins;" hut it the apostle had livinl in 
these presiMit da)'s, liis honest)^ <^{ he.nt would 
have prompted hini to say charity slioiild hitle a 
multitude oi sins, but money covcrcth them aU. 
llow can we ex[)ect a nation to attain that hcii^iit 
of moialit)- which she is Cvipahle c^f enjo)'ini;', when 
we cmuitenance ami encourage wroui^" k>r the sake 
of obtaininjj^ the favor and t^ooil w ill of some person 
or persons, whose favor, in truth, if it can be se- 
curetl, can be onl)' at the above price. The i^ood 
will of such can be retained \\c> Kni^er than we can 
be useil ti> ad\ ance their ow n intiMcsts. Were these 
fundament. d {Minciples tluM'oughly inculcatcil in 



88 -^S IT SHOULD BE. 

every young mind, and as the years come care be 
taken in regard to their cultivation, we would have 
better people in our world than we have. There 
would be more truth, more Christianity ; and by 
this we do not mean the outward profession of 
words and deeds, but lives which shall show forth 
the spirit of the Christ. There would be more love 
and patience one toward another, and we should 
be big with charity toward all men. 

The reformation of the morals of this country, 
and throughout the world, has its foundation in 
true womanly hearts, and the work they have to 
do is mighty in importance. The time for com- 
mencing active toil has been delayed too long 
already. To every mother we make an earnest 
appeal for prayerful labor, for this great woman's 
work can only be advanced through your children, 
and you must fit and prepare their minds for the 
struggle. By doing this you will really be per- 
forming work for yourself 

"But," says one, '*we have trained our children 
with the utmost care, and we have had little or no 
reward for our labor." Nay, friend; not with as 
much care as you might have given them, but with 
as much as you had the disposition to give them. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



89 



You did not make the education of your children 
the one great object of your life, not morally as 
much as intellectually, and sacrificed almost every- 
thing- else in order that you might devote your time 
to their early training. 

Another says, " I have so many little ones, I must 
intrust some of them to the care of servants." 

If we inspect such families, what do we find? 
Why, the younger children are given over to the 
care of the nurse, while the mother devotes what 
little time she gives her children to the older ones, 
w^hose characters are already shaped to a greater 
or less degree. This is all wrong. If a woman 
must needs have servants to aid her, let the older 
ones, who, on account of their age, are not obliged 
to remain with the servants all the time, be in- 
trusted to their care. By so doing, the mother 
will have the infant minds under her own guard- 
ianship. To those women w^ho, on account of their 
fashionable life, have but little time to spend with 
their children, we would say, far better would it 
be for you and your children if you would hire 
some one to receive and return your fashionable 
calls and live your fashionable life, so that you 
might be with your children, than to hire some one 



90 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



to care for your children while you lead a thought- 
less, useless life. Your first duty is to your children, 
and then those of the world must be secondary. 
This is the law that should govern your actions, 
but you have neglected to observe it, and you with 
the whole world will suffer the penalty attached to 
the law you have broken. 

Fashion the young mind with as much care and 
niceness as the sculptor uses in completing and 
finishing the beautiful figure before him. Ah ! 
mothers, you who have cast your lot with those 
who demand the ballot, would it not be the better 
way to fit and prepare the minds of your children 
for the correct discernment of what are rights and 
what are wrongs, than to raise this cry? You 
seem to forget that the men of the present time 
and generation have been educated with views 
peculiar to the time in which their education was 
received. It is unreasonable to expect that they, 
who have grown old in their own belief, will change 
their doctrine in their old age, and by so doing 
admit they have been living in error all their life. 
This is what must necessarily be the case if the 
ballot is insisted upon, and is obtained in response 
to your demands. Would it not be the better way 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



91 



to educate your children in your own way of 
thinking, if you will ? then, when the time comes 
for them to take an active part in public life, they 
will aid in making right what you now consider to 
be wrong. 

This may not transpire in your day, it is true, 
but the end is sure ; and if you are willing, as you 
say you are, to be martyrs in the struggle for 
equal rights, why not sacrifice yourselves in a cause 
which you know must result in victory, and go to 
your graves crowned with the laurels of a noble 
womanhood, instead of falling exhausted in this 
** foolhardy" scheme, with none to speak of you 
unless it be with scorn, and not one left who will 
cherish your memories ? Would it not be a still 
better way to educate the children thoroughly in 
all matters of right and wrong, but not for one 
moment think of hinting the idea to them that 
woman has been and is wronged in being denied 
the right of suffrage? Aid them rather in the 
securing of a pure heart, which shall enable the 
woman of the coming age to trust in man fully 
for protection. Strive to lay that foundation for 
a character which shall make honest men who can 
be relied upon. 



92 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

We need honest men, with a purity of heart and 
purpose actuating them daily. God knows what 
shall become of us if this need is not provided for ! 
Can any one walk our streets, or visit our places 
of amusement, without perceiving the dearth there 
is of good men, and the necessity there is for 
reformation ? The truth is too plainly visible to be 
mistaken, and this necessity is everywhere observed. 

Ay, the power intrusted to women is " little 
understood," or more minds would be fashioned 
for genius, and souls formed and moulded for 
everlasting good. 

If we look at the men of the present time, — the 
depth to which they have fallen, and the great 
distance that lies between men as they are and 
men as they should be, — we can judge something 
of the work which is to be done. This very degra- 
dation of to-day is owing, to a great extent, to 
the early impressions made upon the child-mind. 
There has been something neglected in their early 
education ; and could we travel over the life-history 
of many an outcast, we would find that the first 
wrong impression was received very early in life, 
and the first act resulting from this mistaken idea 
followed in childhood's years. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 93 

A step in the wrong once taken, almost always 
induces the second one. The first steps are slow, 
unsteady, and taken with some hesitation, but in a 
short time this is overcome, and the road of sin is 
traveled over more rapidly than they would or 
could have traveled the road of integrity, had they 
inclined their steps in this way. 

In one of the hospitals, located near the city of 
Washington, during " the rebellion," lay a soldier 
whose wounds were of such a nature as must 
result fatally to him. His appearance was sufficient 
to create a feeling of disgust, nay, almost horror, 
and vulgarity was to be seen in almost every 
feature and motion. He was known throughout 
his regiment as the most vile and wicked man 
among them ; but his bravery and daring won for 
him the admiration of both officers and comrades. 
The end, however, was fast approaching, for the 
lips so quick to utter oaths were white and still, 
and the dew-drops and shadows of the night of 
death were already gathered upon his forehead. 
A nurse was close at hand, and now and then 
almost inaudible words were whispered by the 
dying man. The chaplain entered the ward, and, 
as if reading death in the sufferer's face, and that 

9 



94 ^-S* IT SHOULD BE. 

his services were needed, passed directly to the 
bedside. Leaning over him he asked, in gentle 
tones, if he knew that the conflict was almost over 
with him, and a slight affirmative nod of the head 
was his answer. Opening his little pocket-testa- 
ment, the good man read the parables of the " Lost 
Sheep" and the " Prodigal Son," and then knelt 
down and engaged in prayer. While thus em- 
ployed, the deep lines of the soldier's face lost 
much of their contracted appearance, and a look 
of peace settled down instead. 

As the chaplain arose from his knees the sufferer 
attempted to reach out his hand, and with motions 
drew the minister's head down to his own face, 
.whispering, *' Our Father." The listener under- 
stood what was desired, and again knelt by the 
bed repeating the Lord's Prayer. Before it was 
completed, however, a smile had wreathed the 
soldier's face, and with the word " mother" upon 
his lips he passed away. Ah ! who can tell what 
his thoughts were during those few seconds, or 
how many home scenes passed in view ! 

He had been a fearfully wicked man, and for 
long years had never seen his mother's face. She 
waited long for tidings of her absent son, which 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



95 



never came ; and at last, wearied with watching, 
the cords of her loving heart were broken, and she 
passed on to her rest. And now, after all these 
years of vice and apparent forgetfulness, memory- 
pictures childhood's familiar, hallowed haunts with 
a vividness bordering on reality, and in a few 
moments the whole life of years is lived over, and 
above everything else he sees his mother's sweet, 
patient face. Coupling this name with that of his 
Father in heaven, he passes over the river to meet 
both. 

This is only one of the thousands of like in- 
stances which occurred during that warfare, where 
brave boys went to their last long sleep of death 
with the word " mother" upon their lips. 

Do not be discouraged, mothers, on account of 
the seeming neglect and indifference of your chil- 
dren, for, if you have been faithful to your trust, your 
efforts will not pass unrewarded; if you do not 
realize here the answer to your prayers, when we 
meet up yonder we shall know all things. 

Had you been more particular in their early 
training, you might have had less cause to inter- 
cede so earnestly with God in their behalf Think 
you the fact of a brave boy dying with his mother's 



96 AS IT SHOULD BE, 

name upon his lips was without its effect upon his 
friends ? Think you, if that mother was ahve, 
would she not be comforted with the knowledge 
that his last thoughts were of her? Ay, more 
than human language can express. 

Be faithful, then, mothers, for these occur- 
rences only prove to you the power you have to 
mould your children for good or evil. If your 
image is so firmly pictured upon their vision as to 
remain the longest of all human faces, then your 
teachings will be the most valuable and the most 
lasting. 

There seems to be an idea prevalent that our 
country has been progressing morally during the 
last half century ; but we cannot accept such an 
idea as our belief 'Tis true that the arts and 
sciences have taken wonderful strides in improve- 
ment ; 'tis true, too, that our nation has enlarged 
her boundary of settlement, out of necessity, to 
accommodate her people. Education is almost 
compelled, instead of having to be sought, labored, 
and toiled for. Church spires can be seen in almost 
every village ; but how is it with sin, crime, and 
debauchery — in fact, with morals generally ? Has 
this progress, intellectually, been sufficient to over- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



97 



come these evils and destroy them ? Ah, no ; the 
increase has been equally great, and in truth greater. 
Take up your newspapers, and what do we find 
the columns filled with ? Accounts of murders, 
suicides, robberies, rapes, and numerous other 
things which go to make up the great catalogue of 
crime, until it seems as though man has become 
an incarnate fiend, and that the very earth must 
soon cry out for vengeance. 

It would afford us joy could we assert with truth 
that the increase of immorality in this country has 
been in the same ratio of the increase of its progress 
mentally, for then we should know we had gained 
a victory in having brought crime to a stand-still ; 
for it only being increased with the increased num- 
ber of inhabitants would be no increase at all. 
We fear we should undervalue this matter were we 
to make the above statement, for, with our surround- 
ings of vice stationed at every street corner, we fear 
that the monster is stronger and larger than ever, 
and that it has increased rapidly in size during the 
last half century. If this be the case, then the 
moral condition of our people is degenerating 
rather than advancing ; and this warns us of the 
advantage the enemy is gaining over us. And 



98 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



how is it that such is the case ? By the neglecting 
of the early education of children. 

After the children enter school, they are busy 
with their books from four to six hours each day 
perhaps, and the remainder of the time they are 
under the control of their parents. Many con- 
sider the out-of-school education of their children 
as of very little importance, and often as something 
with which they have nothing to do, — a thing to 
be given over to the dominion of luck. On the 
contrary, this should be a matter of the highest 
interest to them as being their duty ; and it will be 
a pleasure to look after posterity out of school if 
they are right-minded and fully alive to the impor- 
tance of the work. Oh, how often our hearts have 
been pained, in passing along the streets, to hear 
the fearfully-horrid oaths of school-boys as they 
loitered around some mouth of hell, where that 
fiery liquid, which tells plainly of its source, is dealt 
out to poor humanity! Mothers, what business 
had your sons there without your permission ? 
Why are you so indifferent to the whereabouts of 
your children when they are spending their precious 
time in places which may prove their utter and 
irretrievable ruin? It may seem strange to you 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 99 

that there is such a throng about corner groceries 
and low groggeries ; but could you listen for your- 
selves to the conversation there carried on, you 
would find it of such a nature as will take hold 
upon unsophisticated minds, but which would fill 
you with so much horror that your boys would 
never frequent such places again if diligent watch- 
fulness on your part could prevent it. Not only in 
such places is the influence thrown about young 
minds corrupting, but the companions with whom 
they associate every day can do wonders for good 
or evil. Mothers cannot be too particular about the 
influence exerted upon children out of school, for 
they cannot begin to measure or calculate the weight 
such things may have upon the future character, nor 
how largely they may enter into all their after-life. 

Rule and govern by love, so that your children 
shall not obey through fear only, for obedience so 
exacted is not willingly or cheerfully given. Love 
must be the controlling power used if you would 
do good. 

In some instances parents are too severe with 
their children, and in many other instances the 
opposite is equally true. Both extremes should 
be avoided, and a medium course pursued. 



100 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

As we have said before, the examination we have 
made into our early history has led us to observe 
the responsibilities which are ours as the imme- 
diate ancestors of those who shall follow us, and 
the necessity of making ourselves worthy of imi- 
tation, and after this the need of being prepared 
for the undertaking of the early education of chil- 
dren and the moulding of their character. Our 
land is filled with physical suffering which has been 
entailed by parents upon their offspring, and the 
vast number who are crippled in every possible 
way, or dwarfed and idiotic, are objects with which 
the eye is too sadly familiar. We have already 
said much in the little book which preceded this 
in regard to the physical culture of females ; but we 
would again urge upon all the absolute necessity 
of a universal reform in this direction. If the dis- 
sipating excesses and abuses of natural laws are to 
increase in the future as they have in the past, the 
suffering throughout the land will be immeasur- 
able. It is fearful now, and we fail to understand 
how any one with an average amount of common 
sense can rush into those things which will forever 
and eternally curse their posterity. 

Our bodies, in which are embodied the most 



AS IT SHOULD BE. lOi 

wonderful of all wonderful mechanisms, every part 
of which is so nicely adjusted to the other that one 
cannot be overtaxed or abused without all the 
others suffering, are regarded by us as of very little 
consequence. We use them as carelessly as though 
they were made of iron, and could and would en- 
dure all things. There is sorrow enough and pain 
enough in the world coming directly from the hand 
of God, without any additional suffering being 
brought upon the human race by man himself; 
and yet the Divine afflictions have been exceeded a 
hundred fold by those imposed upon humanity by 
humanity. As we have gazed upon the poor little 
cripple so sickly and sadly pale, we have wondered 
what the feelings of the parents must have been 
when they knew that the agony which the little one 
must endure through life was the result of their own 
indiscretion. But few look upon this subject in this 
light, however; for, being almost entirely ignorant 
of the laws which control their own beings, they 
look upon children thus afflicted as so maimed by 
Providence, and go on living in the same reckless 
way. 

It seems as though such things and sights would 
act as a preventitive against the abuse of natural 



I02 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

laws, but they do not. Each individual appears to 
be living in the present time, and gives no thought 
to the misery which may result from this present 
manner of living. The study of the human sys- 
tem is regarded as of too little importance, and is 
not compelled and observed in our colleges and 
seminaries as it should be. On the contrary, these 
places, where influences should always tend toward 
the elevation of the human race, are often the 
birthplace of ideas and habits which eventually ruin 
forever the persons who become subject to their 
thraldom. 

If we are poor, puny, sickly things ourselves, 
can we expect our children, as part of ourselves, to 
be strong and healthy ? We ought to take this 
subject into earnest consideration, and use every 
effort to make ourselves worthy of imitation, so that 
posterity shall not rise up against us and curse us 
for the evils we have entailed upon them. When 
all the demands of nature are observed and her 
laws obeyed, there will be a great change in the 
world about us; and a race of strong, fully-devel- 
oped people will be the result in time. If such 
things are not observed, however, there is such a 
close connection existing between the physical 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



103 



and mental systems that the human family will be 
nothing but idiotic dwarfs. 

Horrible as this may seem, and though many 
may regard such a result impossible, still the word 
of the ** Most High" is pledged, in the laws which 
govern us, that such will be the result; and his 
word is immutable. 

To each law, civil, natural, or Divine, there is a 
penalty attached, which must be paid if the law is 
broken. In the natural and Divine laws the penalty 
thereto appended is always exacted when a com- 
mand has been disobeyed. But this cannot be 
said of the civil laws. Crime and disobedience go 
unpunished too often for the good of people gen- 
erally; and laws are broken with impunity, the 
offender knowing that, in all probability, he will 
not be made to realize the punishment threatened. 
If we will deliberately break laws, casting them 
aside as of but little consequence, we must expect 
to suffer from such heedlessness and boldness ; 
and each individual delinquent adds but another 
link in the chain of human suffering. If the 
punishment ended with the one who disobeys, that 
would change the whole appearance of the subject; 
but such is not the case, for the sins of fathers 



104 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



are visited upon the children, even unto the third 
and fourth generation of those who hate God. 

Is it not a self-evident fact, then, that all this dis- 
obedience and neglect, as it is multiplied and multi- 
plied again, must result in what we have already 
stated, — a race of dwarfed idiots ? 

Now, we cannot fail to perceive that our duty to 
those who shall follow us demands that we live 
pure and unselfish lives, controlled and directed by 
the fear of God. An intellectual training, parents, 
in the early years of your children, is not sufficient, 
in itself, to mould and form the character as it 
should be; but something higher, something purer, 
is absolutely necessary to satisfy the yearnings of 
every mind. 

There are those who will say that this moral 
training will come soon enough, through the ave- 
nues of the Sabbath-school, Sunday services, and 
all other means which may be termed religious. 
But, friends, did you ever examine your own 
history in order that you might ascertain from 
whence came your own early impressions of all 
those things which are good, and your ideas of 
God himself? We fear not, or you would not be 
willing to put off this education until your children 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



105 



are old enough to attend upon religious services 
themselves. 

Allow us here to make a bold statement ; and 
yet we feel fully warranted in making it after a 
careful examination of the subject. One-half of 
our first moral or spiritual training is not received 
from sources which we generally term religious ; 
and we can say of some mental constitutions, that 
it is true that almost their whole impetus toward 
virtue and godliness is the gift of profane agencies 
as they are so called. 

We would rather have a child led into intense and 
right-minded sympathy with nature, the beauties 
of this glorious world, and the innermost meaning 
of God's works, than to have It placed under that 
which some men term " religious tuition." No 
one can admire the beauty revealed in Nature 
without feeling that He who created it must be 
beautiful. No one can observe the provision which 
He has made for all forms of inferior life, without 
feeling and knowing that He cares for man, His 
best and noblest work. No one can look upon the 
strength and duration of the mountains, and think 
of the unseen power which holds them in place, the 
kindly shadows which they furnish, and the cool 



To6 -4S IT SHOULD BE. 

air which Hngers about their summits, and not 
reah'ze that there is One whose strength must 
exceed all this ; whose love is like the shadow of a 
mountain in a weary land. No one can observe the 
sublimity of the thunder-storm without believing 
that He who rules the storm must be sublime 
indeed. We would have infinitely more hopes of a 
future filled with goodness and purity of character 
thus tutored, than we would of one who was even 
brought under the rule of religious discipline. We 
had rather have a little one born into a peaceful 
and loving home, where all those faculties, which 
work spontaneously within us and hunger for 
proper nutriment, shall be well met and cared for, 
than to have it ushered into a different home, 
where a morose and unhappy virtue is the law 
which governs the household. In the first home, 
the peaceful quiet and loving cheerfulness which 
pervades will draw out the little one just as the 
little blade of grass in the earth is solicited and 
invited forth, and at last rises up in grateful response 
to the daily love of the sun. In the second 
home how different is the temperature ! The little 
stranger is welcomed with grim didactics and a 
theory of total depravity, to the effect that it is 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



107 



already earthly, sensual, devilish, and under the 
Divine displeasure ; so that the very first thing in 
its education must be to cross it in all its wishes 
and ways, — whip him and%banish him to the dark 
closet until he learns the ten commandments and 
repents of original sin. 

Here lies the secret of the children of so many 
of our good men being so fearfully wicked. Had 
there been less severity and more love, less of that 
long, grim-faced Christianity, and more of that 
cheerfulness which is an attribute of the true spirit 
of Christ, the future of their children might have 
been forever changed. 

The principles of morality which are so essential 
to a pure life, must be instilled into the young 
minds with a niceness and unobtrusiveness which 
nothing but a complete knowledge of human nature 
can endow us with. 

From what has just been said do not now feel 
warranted to say that we consider Christianity un- 
necessary to home-teaching, for it is the very need 
of this that we would impress upon all mothers. 
According to our ideas of Christianity, the first 
home referred to is, indeed, the result of the work- 
ings of that spirit which filled our Master while He 



I08 ^-S IT SHOULD BE. 

was on earth. The sincere Christian has every 
reason possible to be the most joyous, happy per- 
son hving; and yet we more frequently find the 
very opposite characteiiistic peculiar to those who 
call themselves professors, or at least their long 
faces would indicate such to be true. We think 
well enough of Sabbath-schools, and would not 
have them abolished on any account; and yet we 
are not conscious that they ever aided us in any 
way toward Christian excellence. It may be 
that they did take part in shaping our character, 
but as we look back now, and run over those 
things which moulded us the most powerfully and 
benignly, and appear now within us as wholesome 
forces, reporting themselves most audibly in our 
recollection, we do not find the Sabbath-school 
among them at all. In fact, we have always re- 
garded the work of the teacher upon young minds 
as belonging, exclusively, almost, to the home- 
work. The very fact that their children are in 
Sabbath-school is sufficient to satisfy some parents 
as to the whereabouts of their little ones; while 
they never take the trouble to question them as to 
what they are being taught, or whether the school 
is Protestant or Roman Catholic. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. IO9 

Others may have another story to tell of the 
influence of this and other religious institutions 
upon their young minds, but this is our own expe- 
rience. We are more quickened by certain wild- 
wood scenes and pastures which we remember so 
well ; by the tiny little brooklet among the hills ; 
by many passages in social life, wherein true Chris- 
tian character was shown, and some great thing 
appertaining to the soul itself was incidentally 
taught ; and, more than all these combined, by the 
evening prayer at our mother's side, and her sweet 
"good-night." We are more ennobled by these 
things than all the direct and formal religious in- 
struction that we ever received ; that is, if mem- 
ory can be trusted. 

However, there is but little doubt that the Sun- 
day-school did shape our life for good, though 
we are not quite certain that such was the case, for 
all that it ever did for us is sunk in oblivion, and 
we can tell nothing more about it until we attain 
to that other life, and are made possessors of a more 
faithful miemory. The influences upon w^iich we 
enlarged a few moments ago as forming our char- 
acter are not secular ; but they are religious in that 
they reach and affect our religious sensibilities, and 



no AS IT SHOULD BE. 

thus determine our welfare forever. Peace under 
the home-roof, amiabihty, good taste, pleasant pic- 
tures, graceful and affectionate manners, and num- 
berless other things of the same nature, which tend 
to keep the child's passions down and foster cheer- 
fulness and love, are holy, as their results in char- 
acters show. These are eminent means of good. 
Preaching, prayer-meetings, and other appointed 
rites are not more so, and in truth they are not 
so beneficial for those quite young. 

All influences in early life which are not posi- 
tively pernicious, are the Creator at work upon us ; 
His handiwork ; doing what He may for us that we 
may become good and pure. And now, mothers, 
as you are the object most fondly cherished in the 
hearts of your children, as your words and deeds 
stand foremost as an influence for either good or 
evil, see to it that you do not neglect to perform 
your every duty as those who must be accountable. 

In all that we have said upon this subject of in- 
fluence, we may, apparently, have given oppor- 
tunity for persons to accuse us of over-estimating 
the former of these influences upon us ; but all 
who are inclined to do this must remember that 
we have been talking of that early period in our 



AS IT SHOULD BE. lU 

history before the will was matured. Each agency- 
using its influence met with no opposition, but had 
full sway over the object upon whom it was exer- 
cised. Our purpose in taking up the plan we have, 
was to show the great necessity of mothers being 
particular in regard to the early impressions which 
are made upon the minds of their children. 

There are those, however, who so disparage the 
will that, they reduce it to a cunning piece of 
mechanism, devoid of any inherent energy, and 
moving only as it is moved. With them the pro- 
gress of our lives is as the progress of the water 
to the sea, whose million drops roll on inert and 
unquestioning with a blind, helpless loyalty to the 
physical laws of the Mighty Ruler of the universe. 
Our own passage, from birth to death, is like the 
swift career of the rock down the hill, which is 
hurried along by the constant force of gravity, de- 
flecting hither and thither, as it comes in contact 
with tree-trunks, stones, or fallen branches. 

This view may be regarded as an extreme one, 
and philosophically false ; besides being a very poor 
help to morals. It is a poison-growth, and under 
its death-dealing shadows virtue pales, droops, 
and suffocates. Men naturally shrink from this 



112 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

doctrine, for they feel that it destroys their very 
manhood. Still, the utmost care must be preserved 
in explaining human actions and the course and 
issue of human lives. This we have endeavored to 
do, for we feel that, as we recoil from the doctrines 
of the fatalists, care must be taken that we do not 
espouse the opposite belief, and insist upon the 
actual and absolute self-power and direction of 
man's will. 

The world has been too entirely flooded already 
with this idea, and it is all wrong that we are so 
illy able to deny or contradict stoutly, without 
flying off into frigid distances of error in opposite 
directions. On account of this very thing, to wise 
men, there has always seemed to be a tendency 
towards insanity in the work of protesting vigor- 
ously, and that as a habit. 

A pit behind one is as dangerous as the pit 
before him. You will not walk off into the first, 
you say ; see to it that you do not back off into the 
second. We must not forget that, as a matter of 
fact, all deeds, courses, and destinies of human 
beings are compounded in their cause ; being of 
the will, and of those countless allies and forces in 
the shape of influences, which aid or resist it in its 



^S IT SHOULD BE. 



113 



work. There is no use denying that we are what 
we are from numberless causes, for we have en- 
deavoured to show that such is indeed the case. 
It is not of yourself, altogether, that you are what 
you are, and stand just where you do, surrounded 
as you are by the many things which make your 
life happy, and are beckoned by the bright or 
dreary future which is before you. Oh, no ! It 
would require the patient toil and knowledge of 
an archangel to investigate and classify the dif- 
ferent causes which have brought us to the present 
time, — tending whither we tend, — so many are 
they, and so mingled together. It would be like 
disentangling the half-hundred elements of which 
the great universe is composed, and contemplating 
this great structure in its chaotic constituents. 

An individual is a universe in himself Worlds 
and systems are there ; height and depth ; tower- 
ing crags and deep abysses ; light and darkness ; 
noontide and midnight ; spring and harvest ; the 
rising, swelling waves of the seas; the lovely moon, 
and the dreary desolation of storms and earth- 
quakes ; the sunshine and shadows ; the loss and 
fall of stars ; the tender green of spring-time, and 
the sereness of winter ; harmony and discord ; life 



114 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

and death; yes, a whole universe, in truth, of 
manifold splendors and glooms. 
. We may say that the thread of our life is reeled 
from the will, as from an invisible wheel of a 
strong combination of self-propelling and self-re- 
sisting power ; but which revolves as if impelled 
by a host of agencies, persons, and things, — both 
seen and unseen, finite and infinite. Now, when the 
will discerns these influences, which approach and 
use every device possible to gain control over us, 
it is really very much of an autocrat in its de- 
cisions as to whether such influences shall be 

9 

accepted or rejected, and when it refuses it is 
hardly vincible. In an open field, on a clear day, 
with the antagonist fully defined before it, in • its 
full dimensions and power, it strives with an in- 
comprehensible force, and becomes one of the 
most commanding emblems of that great monarch 
" Might." The isles are as nothing compared with 
it, and the great orbs are but bubbles. 

The will, then, may be considered a soldier, as 
we have said before, stationed to guard the avenues 
of the mind ; and when thoroughly awake, realiz- 
ing the approach of a foe, and giving itself fully to 
the work of resisting, it cannot be overcome. A 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



115 



thousand demons could not conquer it; and physi- 
cal onsets and battlings are without effect. If as- 
sailed by Titan's flying mountains and planets, it 
would stand the test. Piled under a hundred 
worlds, it would not give way. All the frosts of 
the polar regions, all the mysterious energies of 
electricity, the rise and fall of all the ocean's waves 
combined, all volcanic eruptions united in» one, and 
all other natural forces which do most completely 
and impressively represent the great Creator of all 
things, all would be victoriously withstood and 
hurled back by a simple human will on the alert 
and well determined. 

Well may we wonder at ourselves, when we re- 
member that we contain a capacity so vast. We 
claim the almost unlimited power of the will, then, 
because experience sustains the claim. Then,j;oo, 
to allow that this faculty is the imbecile and cripple 
which some pretend, is to admit an attack upon 
our very personality. To defend the will, then, is 
to defend our vitality, — our very essence, — that by 
which we are sacredly individual. 

If, with the will stationed as an armed guard on 
the confines of the mind, we are not safe from the 
ingress of those enemies who boldly present them- 



Il6 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

selves before us in clearly-defined outline, then 
each individual mind is not a private precinct, but 
more like an open common, over which all men, 
and beasts, too, clean or unclean, may travel, and 
upon which all foul angels may pitch their tents, 
possessing us forever and forever. But we are 
victims to no such squatter law as this. 

When the child advances in years, and the will 
has reached a certain degree of maturity, then 
whatever influences take possession of it when 
the will stands guard are admitted and allowed by 
it to enter, for such influences could not force an 
entrance with all the spirits of the air, and all the 
strong, mad outcasts of the world invisible to sup- 
port the effort. 

We ought to be thankful that this, our sturdy 
warden, guards his own domains, and is the equal 
of all things combined. 

By this time you are ready to ask, " If the will 
is such a wonderful power in itself, why are not all 
men good, on account of its having resisted all 
pernicious influences ?" 

There are two reasons for such not being the 
case. The first is, that the early education of 
children has not been such as to color their de- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. II7 

sires for that which is pure in itself, and would 
enable the will to accept those influences only 
which satisfy the soul. The other reason will 
prevent us from feeling that nothing can harm us, 
and we will consider it for a few moments. 

Many of the approaches and invasions which 
are made upon the mind are clandestine ; and as 
ancient Babylon, in the midst of her feasts and 
nightly revels, suspecting no evil, was captured by 
soldiers who entered the city along the bed of the 
river which had been drained by them, so we are 
surprised, as in the night, by foes who have come 
in steathily, our gates being barred, and our wills 
stationed on duty and on the lookout. We are 
constantly and mightily wrought upon and educated 
for good or evil, by unobserved influences, myriads 
of unsought and wizard-like teachers, of whose 
busy, industrious tuition we are wholly ignorant. 

Thus we see that we are really indebted to these 
unnoticed agencies for what we are, as well as to 
the influences which are visible. There seems to be 
a warfare carried on constantly between the powers 
visible and invisible for possession of every human 
being; and there is a great resort to stratagem, 
both honorable and dishonorable, which results in 



Il8 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

our often falling into ambush. At one time we 
incur almost deadly risks, and then again we sink 
into the arms of fortune. 

But the will is not perfect master of this Indian- 
like mode of warfare. It is good, as we have 
said, strong and unyielding for open conflict and 
resistance ; but this skulking in the bush, and 
working underground to carry some particular 
point, are things in which the will is not an adept. 
In colonial times, the trained and well-accoutred 
forces of the mother-country were often overcome 
and conquered by unorganized but sly companies 
of red men. So the will, well armed and full of 
courage, is vanquished, at times, by unseen enemies, 
and we are o'errun by influences which have stolen 
upon us. 

As we have already seen, friendly influences 
often take possession of us, gaining admission un- 
observed, and it is a source of much joy to us that 
such is the case. If the early education and first 
impressions have been what they should have been, 
then the will will reject that influence which tends 
toward that which is evil, and wall accept that 
which it knows to be right. 

We have given much space to the discussion of 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



119 



this subject, but we have done so to explain, as 
best we could, how we have become what we are. 
We find that much, very much, depends upon our 
early education and first impulses. In truth, the 
will is what it is on account of early teachings, and 
it may be said to have been made up of these very 
things. We have spoken of the wonderful power 
of a human will in order that we might make 
plain its capacity and ability to resist, and when 
this resistance is called forth in opposition to wrong 
influences that they must be hurled back, and thus 
prevented from accomplishing the fiendish, work in 
view. One more step back, and we find that if 
the will in embryo has been rightly nurtured and 
fostered, when it attains maturity its resisting 
power will always be against wrong in any form. 
The fact of our considering this early training as 
woman's work, and realizinsr, too, that the whole 
future good of a nation depends upon this work 
being thoroughly and fully comprehended, warrants 
us, we think, in making the research we have made, 
and in spending the time we have in so doing. 

A loud cry comes to us, from the presidential 
chair to the room of the laboring mechanic, for 
honest, sober, God-fearing men to carry on the 



I20 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

machinery of this great country and government 
as it should be, and as it must be in order to secure 
success. Honest men are rare, sober men are few, 
while the God-fearing men are too seldom found. 
We have only to glance the country over and look 
at those who fill our most important offices of 
trust, in order to perceive the truth of this state- 
ment, and to hear the cry re-echoed in our own 
ears. Is the sight not appalling and the result 
which must follow terrible, unless there is a speedy 
change ? What does the great Credit Mobilier 
tell us, in which so many of those who have been 
considered the nation's first, best, and purest, have 
been implicated ? What are we to infer from the 
numerous investigations which have been ordered 
into the affairs of public officers, until this age has 
been rightly termed the " Era of Investigations" ? 
What does the astounding fact, which is every day 
made more evident, of the public coffers being used 
as a means of furnishing employees with untold 
wealth, teach us ? What does the great preponder- 
ance of crime and immorality in every form among 
our public men prove beyond a doubt ? What does 
the oppression to which the poor are subjected, 
until their burdens in many instances are grievous 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 12 i 

to be borne, demand of us ? What does the man- 
worship and money-worship, to the exclusion of 
every good and noble impulse, need as a remedy ? 
What does this toleration of wrong and injustice, 
as a service to public opinion, impress upon us ? 

One fact, and that the necessity of a moral refor- 
mation among mankind generally: The need of 
upright, conscientious, noble men. 

The way in which this need may be supplied has 
already been defined; and when we speak of educa- 
tion, in connection with the young, we do not mean 
book-knowledge, nor do we mean an intellectual 
training only. Unless the principles of true Chris- 
tianity be instilled, all the education received will 
be a failure. 

We have said enough, so that all can understand 
how these principles should be taught. The moral 
nature must be educated equally with the develop- 
ing of the physical system. It stands to reason, if 
this be not done, the physical system will be 
constantly developing, while the moral nature is 
developed only as certain influences take hold 
upon it accidentally, we might say. Certainly not 
by anything that has been taught by parents, and 
inculcated in the early life-history. The desires, 



122 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

passions, and appetites in a child thus neglected 
are thoroughly matured and at work before that 
great controlling moral power has been brought 
out into a power. 

When such a child does feel the necessity, if he 
ever does, of something to satisfy the inward 
cravings for that which is higher and purer than 
anything which he possesses, he finds all these full- 
grown passions and desires hedging him in with 
such a force that none but those who have been 
so situated can understand. Had the developing 
of the moral nature been carried on equally with 
the developing of the intellectual and physical 
powers, the strength of the one would have been 
equal, at least, to that of the others, and the influence 
for good would have counteracted the influence for 
evil. The passions would have been controlled ; 
the desires would have reached out after those 
things which are good in themselves, as well 
as in their results, and much misery averted. No 
one would think of placing a child in a school 
where only one particular study was introduced, 
and that for the developing of one faculty only, or 
perhaps two, while the other faculties, of equal 
importance, were left without any instruction save 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



123 



that which is picked up. The result of such an 
education in an individual can easily be conceived. 
If, in time, a person so taught realizes his deficiency 
in educated mental powers, it will be with no little 
hesitation and timidity that he will take up, in man- 
hood, the work of tutoring faculties which should 
have been developed in childhood and youth. So 
with the education of our moral and intellectual 
powers: if the one is put forward and the other 
neglected, the result is anything but that which 
would prepare one for the conflict with self, and 
that self-denial which is necessary to a healthful, 
vigorous life. These two powers ought to and 
must walk hand in hand, each stepping forward 
with the other in the road to knowledge, if we 
would have a well-balanced organization. 

As a people, we are almost blind to the fearful 
truths of which we have just been speaking. Chil- 
dren are too often like "Topsy;" and, if ques- 
tioned closely in regard to their early education, 
they might tell you that they "just growed." If 
we were ignorantly blind to all these things, there 
might be the shadow of an excuse for negligence. 
But we are not ignorant, neither are we blind in 
this respect, for daily we are reminded, in a thou- 



124 ^-^ ^^ SHOULD BE. 

sand different ways, of the truth of what has been 
said. This very negligence on our part to perform 
the duty so clearly defined before us, adds but 
another responsibility to our numerous others for 
which we shall be held accountable. 

Before this much-needed instruction can be im- 
parted to children, as that which is necessary to fit 
them for the places and work which need them, 
those whom God designed as their first teachers 
must fit themselves to be teachers in truth. The 
foundation for the whole after-character of the 
man is laid in infancy; which proves to us that the 
task is no trivial one. In order to be fitted for 
this work, there must be a mighty change brought 
about among females. There must be a giving- 
up of fashionable follies and frivolities, and every 
exertion possible must be put forth to cultivate 
the Christian virtues. 

Many will say that all women are not mothers, 
neither are all women wives ; and what are they to 
do ? Do ? Why, there is a place for each in- 
dividual, a work for every one, and all are com- 
manded to do whatsoever the hand findeth to do 
with all the might. If not mothers yourselves, 
you may encourage mothers by words of sym- 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 12$ 

pathy and deeds of love. If not wives, you may 
by observation be enabled to suggest to the wife 
the secret of making home happy. Should you 
be neither a mother or a wife, to your care tender 
minds may be committed after children have en- 
tered upon their school-life. In fact, no matter 
what position you occupy in life, you cannot live 
so isolated but that you will exert an influence 
upon some one; and to you belongs the duty of 
having that influence what it should be as a means 
of good t^ those who are being wrought upon by 
you. Ay, there is a niche for each individual ; 
and if all were in their own proper places, there 
would be no cry for female suffrage throughout 
our country to-day. 

In truth, the world is all going wrong, because 
so many of us are not in the positions we were 
designed to fill, but have appropriated those which 
rightfully belong to others. It is utterly impos- 
sible for us to perform the life-work of any other 
individual, and in turn leave our work for some 
one else to accomplish. Each one has his own 
work to do, and he alone can perform that work. 

In the grand old cathedrals, where statuary 
enters largely into the decoration of the building, 



126 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

it will be found that each figure has its niche, and, 
when in its proper place, takes up no space outside 
the level of the wall. It is in no one's way, and 
yet it fulfills its mission of an ornament without 
interfering or discommoding anything or any- 
body. Many scarcely observe such a piece of 
statuary while it occupies its proper place ; but 
when it is removed out of sight the yawning va- 
cancy continually brings to mind the loss sus- 
tained. If, however, the same piece of workman- 
ship was removed from its recess and placed in 
one of the aisles, would it not prevent the people 
from passing to and from their own pews ? 

So it is in human life : if we are in our own 
sphere, no matter what it may be, we are so com- 
pletely in our own niche that we interfere with no 
one; and yet we have our part in adorning this 
vast cathedral of ours. The floor of it is car- 
peted with soft, green velvet woven by the hand of 
God himself, while our sheltering dome is the 
immeasurable immensity of the blue firmament 
above, which has been painted and decked with 
stars by the hand of the Master-Artist, and no 
human power that holds the brush can produce an 
arch on canvas that will equal ours in splendor. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



127 



Perhaps, while we live, the part we take in life may 
not be appreciated ; but when death claims us, 
leaving our places vacant, we shall be missed. 
When, however, we are out of our place, we are 
stumbling-blocks or barriers in the way of others. 

Do you wonder that there is confusion in this 
world of ours ? In the present history of the 
world, the intellectual powers receive double the 
instruction, yea, ten times the amount, of that 
which is bestowed upon our moral powers. Men 
have lost sight of nearly all that is pure and good 
in their great desire to secure the riches of this 
world within their grasp. There was a time when 
men of this description were exceptions to the gen- 
eral rule ; but so numerous have they become that 
with truth we can say that these exceptions have 
become the rule. The moral nature has not been 
sufficiently educated to counteract this insatiable 
thirst for gold, or to prevent them from using 
unjust means to increase their treasures. 

Should you ask us the name of the deity 
this present generation worships, we should tell 
you "Mammon." Do you say that this maybe 
true of the world, but not of the church ? Well, 
let us go into our churches, yea, farther still, into 



128 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

the hearts of many of our church members, pro- 
fessing to be Christians indeed, and then one step 
farther, and peer into the heart of the minister 
himself, and will you still adhere to your asser- 
tion ? Sad, oh, sad to relate, gold is king high 
above all things ! Is there not a rivalry existing 
among the trustees of our different churches in 
regard to the appearance of their church edifices ? 
Is there not some anxiety on the part of each one 
that his own edifice shall be a little more unique 
in design, a little more elaborate in matter of orna- 
ment, have a richer-toned organ, a louder-sound- 
ing bell, or a higher steeple than that of his 
neighbor's ? Are not the rich always escorted to 
the best and most comfortable pews, and do they 
not think, in their own hearts, themselves a little 
better than those seated about them on account 
of their wealth ? Does not the pastor treat such 
members with a little more courtesy and defer- 
ence than the poor of his flock, and are not the 
pastoral visits made more frequently to them than 
to the needy members ? 

Have you ever attended a gathering, either 
social or religious, where pastor and people were 
gathered, and met the pastor who had his eye and 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



129 



attention fixed upon some wealthy member of his 
church ? So anxious was he to reach that mem- 
ber, that he almost stumbled over you before he 
was aware of your close proximity to him. As 
an apology for this, and a duty he owes to you as 
one who aids in supporting him, he shakes hands 
with you, his eyes still fixed upon some one else. 
Do you remember such an occurrence and what 
your feelings were ? Is not a minister more in- 
clined to settle with that parish which will pay 
him the largest salary ? There are exceptions to 
these things, however ; but we are stubbornly 
blind if we cannot perceive that mammon has a 
greater hold upon our people than God, and under 
the head of mammon we include everything that 
is not of Christ himself 

Gur early moral education has been neglected ; 
and, like the individual who at last realizes that he 
needs an undefinable something to make of him 
the man he should be, we are just beginning to feel 
that we need something higher and purer, as an in- 
centive to action, than that which actuates us now. 

This brings us directly back to woman's work 
again ; when we say that the country as a whole is 
made up of individual minds, and the action of 



I30 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



the whole is colored by that of the majority. Such 
being the case, we cannot but observe how sadly 
the morals of this majority have been neglected 
in their early life. As we have said before, there 
must be a giving-up of those things which are so 
closely allied to the exterior life, and which oc- 
cupy so much of the precious time of females, and 
the devoting of this same time to the cultivation 
of those things which crown the woman in her 
true position, before she can rightly attend to the 
moral training of the young. 

We have presented this subject in the manner 
we have in order to attract the attention of woman. 
We have spoken of the evils prevalent in the 
world, and in this country in particular, to show 
her how sadly a reform is needed ; and we have 
spoken of the manner of training the infant mind, 
and the result which must follow such instruction, 
in order to impress upon her the necessity of being 
actively in earnest in regard to this work, which is 
her true mission. If we succeed in this respect, 
truly our land will be blessed with noble, high- 
toned women and upright, honest, Christian men. 
Women must be true Christians before they can 
carry on this work successfully and accomplish 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 



131 



that which is so much needed. Tell us, would 
there not be more honor in laboring for this end 
than there is in crying " Let us vote" ? Is it not 
more noble, by far, to instill principles of virtue and 
morality into young minds than it is to sow the 
seed of contention and strife in homes which are 
now peaceful, by the introduction of this question 
of woman's wrongs ? This is the true nature of 
woman's work, and such labor is her true sphere. 
She conquers by love rather than physical strength, 
and her gentleness commands that obedience and 
respect which severity never would secure. 

And now, mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, 
beware of those whose way " seemeth right" and 
whose demands appear just; for, if you heed them, 
they will work destruction to your own happiness, 
and you will drift here and there in other people's 
way, because you are not in your own niche. We 
appeal to you by the love you have for your 
home, the love you entertain for your children, 
the love that was his whom you promised to " love 
and obey," and by the love you find in your heart 
for Him who is infinite love, that you abandon 
this struggle for suffrage and take up your own 
womanly work, thus filling your own sphere. 



HI. 

What we have said thus far has not been said 
because we regard this subject of woman's sphere 
in the same hght as that in which many view the 
subject, viz., that woman's sphere is at home, and 
she is thoroughly fitted to perform the work there 
because it is of so Httle importance. 

Men, or at least very many of them, appear to 
look upon the female sex as made up of individ- 
uals so much alike in every respect as to allow 
them the privilege of applying the peculiarities of 
one to every female. We cannot regard this mat- 
ter in such a light, for we know to the contrary, 
and we cannot compromise truth in order that our 
voice may join in with those of the multitude. 
Neither can we regard this work we have spoken 
of as comprising woman's true sphere of labor 
as of little importance. On the contrary, the 
work assigned her is by far the most sacred of 
any which has ever been allotted to humanity. 
The task assigned woman was given her because 
of its magnitude, rather than its insignificance; 
132 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 1 33 

and a woman who is capable of training aright the 
infant mind and moulding it for good, as it should 
be, is fully qualified to occupy the most important 
office and position ever held by man. Women 
have been looked down upon so long as poor, 
weak, effeminate creatures, both mentally and 
physically, that now we take it for granted, almost, 
that they are incapable of understanding much of 
anything beyond the current " small-talk" of the 
day. 

Just here it may be well for us to repeat an 
assertion made in the first pages of this book to 
the effect that we are strongly in favor of woman's 
rights, though violently opposed to female suf- 
frage. Now, though we may agree with man- 
kind generally in our last statement, we doubt- 
less will differ with the majority of them as to 
our reasons for objecting to woman's asking or 
receiving the ballot. 

People are too apt to confound woman's rights 
and female suffrage. In conversation, if the sub- 
ject of rights is introduced, a great hue and cry is 
raised, and women who would not think of voting 
are set down as ** strong-minded" at once, while 
in truth the listener is the one at fault, for the 



134 ^-S IT SHOULD BE. 

speaker had not introduced the idea of suffrage 
into their conversation. So now, in order to un- 
derstand this matter clearly, we should always 
remember that there is a vast difference between 
woman's rights and female suffrage. 

While many claim that woman is physically 
incompetent to take upon herself the responsibil- 
ities connected with the ballot, and yet allow her 
to do all sorts of drudgery, we boldly assert that 
in all respects she is thoroughly and ably quali- 
fied for such duties. While men claim that her 
mental powers are not sufficiently strong for the 
task, and at the same time, if she seeks informa- 
tion beyond a certain prescribed limit, she is stig- 
matized as a " strong-minded" female, we know 
that woman is better prepared in this respect for a 
political life than one-half of the present citizens 
of the United States. Others refuse the ballot on 
the ground that voting will degrade woman, or 
rather, that the associations connected with the 
right will contaminate her ; and still those very men 
are the ones who are constantly crying out against 
the present degradation of woman. But we affirm 
that no such thing would follow, and the man who 
makes this objection adrnits that the morals of 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



135 



himself and companions are so very low in their 
character that they dare not allow women to asso- 
ciate with them. We are inclined to believe that 
this objection is made not so much out of fear 
that woman will be degraded, as it is for fear she 
would behold men just as they are when not com- 
pelled by etiquette to observe the rules of common 
politeness. Women are daily in the society of 
these very men ; and, as they are not degraded by 
this constant intercourse, many had hoped to ele- 
vate man rather than degrade woman herself, 
should this right be granted her. We repeat that 
we believe the possession of the ballot would not 
degrade woman ; but yet we would not have this 
right granted her in spite of all this, because we 
do not consider it the most expedient means of 
securing the rights and protection which so many 
of them need. 

We are not in sympathy with the idea, so preva- 
lent among men, that the powers of comprehen- 
sion and understanding in woman are so far infe- 
rior to the same powers in the opposite sex, that 
when in conversation with females they must 
descend from their "lofty flights of thought," as 
they style them, to the commonplace things of the 



136 ^'S IT SHOULD BE. 

day, because they think it impossible for woman 
to orain their altitude. They seem to fori^et that 
the powers of perception in the female arc fiir 
more acute than their own ; and often they will 
reason for hours with a fellow-man, in regard to 
some subject which appears impossible for him to 
understand, but will never allude to the same 
subject in conversation with a woman, although 
she would grasp the whole idea in a moment. 

We have been thoroughly convinced of the 
prevalence of this idea of woman's weak mind, as 
we have visited what are termed " Female Collegiate 
Institutes," and listened to addresses and lectures 
in connection with their annual commencements. 
The speaker seems to feel himself compelled to 
select "Woman," or something in connection with 
woman's sphere, as the subject of his discourse. 
This, then, to begin with, conveys the idea that he 
believes it impossible for woman to think of any- 
thing save herself, or to be interested in aught 
save her own sphere, while in truth young ladies 
have become wearied of this continually harp- 
ing upon one string, and are longing for some- 
thing which shall satisfy their heart-cravings with 
thoughts that are indeed the food they need. Of 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



m 



course, there is no subject which should interest 
woman more than the matter of her own work. 
But whether she is interested or not, depends to a 
great extent upon the manner in which the subject 
is presented to her for her consideration. 

Many a lecturer appears before an audience with 
this subject of woman as the foundation of his dis- 
course, and there, by the words which he utters, and 
the manner in which they are dehvered, throws 
out the idea that woman is of little consequence ; 
that she is too weak in every respect to accom- 
plish much ; that her destination is to keep the 
house of some man open and in a fit condition 
for the reception of his friends, at the same time 
caring for his children and loving him, her master, 
with all her heart, in spite of the untold neglect 
and abuse which he may have heaped upon her. 

When the subject is presented in this light, the 
female portion of the listeners are apt to leave the 
hall at the close of the lecture, feeling either that 
they are of but little consequence or very much 
displeased with the individual to whom they had 
just listened for being so entirely unacquainted 
with human nature, in the first place, and then for 
the displaying of his ignorance in such a public 



138 ^^ IT SHOULD BE, 

manner. Love, undoubtedly, is the great controll- 
ing power of our lives ; but much, very much, 
depends upon the motives we have for loving and 
the object loved. 

If, however, the speaker comes before his audi- 
ence with the very same subject and endeavors to 
impress upon his hearers what he considers to be 
woman's true sphere and the mighty responsibili- 
ties which rest upon her in the necessity of per- 
forming her work well ; that her mission is the 
most important in which humanity was ever com- 
missioned to labor ; and the work which he con- 
siders as woman's work he assigns to her, not 
because she is fitted for nothing else and can do 
nothing else, but because of its importance, and 
the fact that her patient, loving heart adapts her 
to this work of reforming the world, — why, after 
listening to such an address as this, woman would 
begin to think that she was of some consequence 
in the world, and had an important work to do. 
She would be surprised that she had been in 
ignorance of her true situation for so long a 
time. New energy would be instilled into that 
very life-giving principle within, and, as it circu- 
lated through the entire body, she would be fully 



A^ IT SHOULD BE. 1 39 

awakened and wholly alive to what she could and 
must do. 

When an individual becomes depressed in spirits 
and discouraged in purpose, and goes a step far- 
ther, perhaps, and falls into sin, the first thing we 
must do for his encouragement and reformation is 
to show him, if possible, that there is something 
of importance for him to do, and something, too, 
which he alone can accomplish. We must strive 
to assure him of our confidence in his ability to 
perform the task, whatever it may be. 

So it is with woman. If you would have her 
interested in what you say in regard to her or her 
sphere, you must make her realize that the work 
she has to perform is one of great magnitude, 
and that none but noble women, who are elevated 
so high that they take no part in those matters 
and questions over which so many are wrangling, 
can engage in their own work and be successful. 

This is the truth of the matter, and there are 
women in our land who are fitted for any position ; 
and were it possible for the executive chair of the 
nation to be occupied by a female, there are those 
who are fully competent for the position. But this 
is not where we would place woman ; not because 



I40 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

she is wanting in anything essential to the accept- 
ing of such a trust, but because her work lies 
elsewhere. 

We cannot but wish that men who are called 
upon to address young-lady graduates would get 
rid of the idea that when they are talking to 
women they must talk of woman ; that they 
would not feel themselves restricted to this thread- 
bare subject We were going to say that we wish 
there might be a reformation here ; but we are in- 
clined to believe that a reformation is not so much 
needed as that men will give up their selfish ideas, 
which have so long narrowed woman's sphere in 
tkeirminds to a very small compass. Woman's mind 
is of a far greater capacity than men are willing to 
admit; and the plan of a college education, which 
is now being adopted, will soon decide whether 
woman's mind is of any capacity or not. Thus 
far the reports are flattering ; and, when we read of 
a young lady graduating from one of our best col- 
leges with a standing which places her the sixth in 
a class of seventy-three, sixty-nine of which were 
young men, we are only the more thoroughly con- 
vinced that discipline only is necessary to develop 
the female mind into a wonderful power. We are 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 141 

convinced that men need not confine themselves 
to this one subject in speaking to females, for they 
are capable of reaching out after thoughts which 
are not included under this topic, or do not come 
within the scope of the arguments which attend it. 
Usage, in connection with this one idea, has 
weakened the taste of many. If a lecture upon 
this subject of woman is delivered now, although 
it may be excellent, it will be spoken of as good, 
but not suited to the hearers or the occasion. 

Only a few years ago we were privileged to 
listen to a thoroughly scientific discourse deliv- 
ered before a young ladies' society, and we were 
pleased to see that so many were completely ab- 
sorbed in the subject as it was presented before 
them. Woman's mind has already been suffi- 
ciently cultivated to require some solid truths 
for food; and, when a higher state of culture is 
reached, she will not listen to the commonplace 
discussions of the day, which are ever brought 
before her now. 

We do not believe that men, as a general thing, 
would deliberately oppress woman in her labors. 
We do not regard their efforts to aid her — that is, 
such as have been put forth — the result of sinister 

13 



142 -4S IT SHOULD BE. 

purposes, or as underhanded in any way. We 
consider them honest in their intentions generally; 
but some of them are fearfully thick-headed. The 
time is coming, we believe, when this thick-head- 
edness will give place to clear-sighted wisdom and 
reason ; and, when duty defines the way for them 
to walk in distinctly, they will gladly follow her 
leadings. In short, men do not understand women ; 
and perhaps it ought not to be a matter of so much 
surprise that such is the case. Two natures so 
entirely different, so distinctly separate, and yet 
closely resembling each other, cannot be thor- 
oughly understood. Men ought not to be blamed, 
then, or censured for not comprehending the na- 
ture of the opposite sex, and we do not find fault 
with them on account of this ignorance ; but we 
do condemn them for continually and persistently 
reiterating the statement that they do understand 
woman better than she knows herself; when, in 
truth, such men are the most ignorant of the na- 
ture of the female. These very ones, in their igno- 
rance of woman and her needs, — which ignorance 
they, in their blindness, consider profound wis- 
dom, — make every attempt they put forth to aid 
result in another burden for woman to bear. In- 



AS n SHOULD BE. 



143 



stead of advancing her interests, they only doom 
her to more injustice. They are perfectly satisfied 
and confident withal that they are conversant with 
the natural peculiarities of the female, and they 
look upon a woman's heart as being of such small 
dimensions, and so visible upon the surface, that 
there is no nook or corner but what their scru- 
tinizing eye has traveled over, and all that is 
needed is just a little tinkering-up by them to 
make woman's sphere just what it was intended to 
be. No sooner is this decision reached, than they 
commence their work ; but their hands are so 
clumsy, and so completely trammeled by preju- 
dices and ignorance, that their tinkering does not 
benefit the matter at all. Nay, they strike here 
and there with so little judgment that the object 
toward which their efforts are directed is forced to 
cry out and ask that they desist in their work. 

The want of success at first does not discourage 
them in the least, and they commence upon the 
same subject at a different point, but end each ex- 
ertion with the tirade that if woman had only done 
as they said, followed their directions, they would 
have been elevated to such a high pinnacle of 
happiness and enjoyment as is impossible for her 



144 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



to conceive of now. If man's talk in connection 
with this one theme, and the advice which he has 
given with such profuse Hberahty, because they 
cost nothing, could have wrought a change, woman 
would have been translated to the third heaven 
long ago. But this is not the way in which any 
object of this nature can be secured. Before the 
desired result can be brought about, there must 
be the bringing together and harmonizing of those 
causes which will produce the wished-for effect. 
If this be not done, we may wait until doomsday 
before we shall attain to that height, socially, for 
which we so sincerely long. 

The men who are constantly talking of woman's 
sphere and her work, and trying to aid her in this 
way spoken of, are the very men who think her 
sphere of but little consequence, and that all mat- 
ters pertaining to her interests can be regulated in 
a very few moments. Still, they are often sur- 
prised and somewhat astonished that their won- 
derful knowledge of just what is needed, and the 
weighty suggestions which they have made, are 
not followed at once by the desired results. If 
such men would only stop one moment and con- 
sider themselves and their own position, they 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 145 

would have less to say in regard to being "content 
with their present lot" than what they now have. 
There is something wanting somewhere, and we 
regard this something as earnest action, without 
which words are of no avail. 

And now we have an additional reason to give 
in reply to the question of why we write upon this 
subject. It is not that we expect to change the 
views of this present generation to any great ex- 
tent, but that we may be able to convince some 
public speaker of the expediency of dropping 
" Woman" from his lecture-subjects, because it is 
among the things of past interest, while at the 
same time we hope to encourage some who are 
almost ready to yield up the conflict, simply be- 
cause they are women. 

Thus far in our work we have been speaking 
more particularly of that class of females who are 
provided with homes, — those who are, or may be, 
mothers and wives. We have regarded their 
power as lying in their love ; but that love must 
be guided and directed by a knowledge induced 
by reason rather than intuition, for an impres- 
sion erroneously received is too often regarded as 
intuition. 



146 -45 IT SHOULD BE. 

We perceive in each female the power to be 
anything or do anything, if she will only allow 
herself to believe that she is capable of so doing ; 
and yet we shrink from having her take the ballot 
into her own hands, because we know that it is not 
the best means of securing that which she needs. 

Now there is another class to be considered, 
and we will proceed at once with the task. 



Were all women provided with homes and pro- 
tectors true to their trust, or was the prospect 
good that each one would thus be cared for, or 
were all young ladies the children of wealthy 
parents, then there would be no need of consider- 
ing this subject for one single moment. Such is 
not the case, although we wish it were, for then 
all controversy would be at an end. 

In many of the seminaries of our country, in 
those of New England in particular, we will find 
that many of the young ladies have come from 
homes of poverty as well as ignorance. 

Days, and nights, too, have been spent in severe 
toil, in order that they might secure the privilege 
they now enjoy. 

When the school-life is entered upon, every 
moment is improved, and every nerve strained, in 
order to perfect themselves in what they have 
undertaken. 

Womanhood is at last reached, and the school- 
life completed ; but they bring to a woman of this 

H7 



148 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

stamp no bright picture of future joys and happi- 
ness. Others, as they leave their Alma Mater, tell 
of the prospects before them ; of the homes which 
imagination presents before them, over which they 
shall preside. The blushing, tell-tale face of one, 
as she speaks of him whom she is soon to accept 
as her protector, is only kissed by her companion, 
for she cannot sympathize with her; she only 
knows that she wishes there was such happiness 
in store for her. So the poor, burdened woman 
bids her school-mates good-by; and, with a sigh, 
she sits down to consider herself She takes 
one fond retrospective glance of her childhood 
days, of the difficulties she has surmounted, of 
the unknown sweetness which had been proffered, 
but which necessity compelled her to forego. 
Then she thinks of the bright hopes of her 
companions, of the wifely trust so soon to be 
theirs, while a mother's love shall comfort their 
declining years. But all these things she looks 
upon as something she can never know. "And 
why not?" do you ask? Because, perchance, 
there is a suffering, toiling mother at home, who 
is now putting forth every effort possible to feed 
and clothe the younger children who are with her. 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 



149 



She shudders as she thinks of what the future of 
her brothers and sisters may be ; for he who 
should be the head of the family, and its director, 
has fallen from his position into the lowest depths 
of sin. For these reasons she resolves to use 
every moment of her time in striving to make 
them noble men and women. 

' Rare talents may be hers; and, doubtless, she 
longs to use them in a way which shall secure her 
own happiness ; but duty directs her steps in this 
uninviting direction, and she takes up her life- 
work with only a thought of "what might have 
been." 

She goes a step farther, if you please, and as he 
who should have been her mother's protector and 
her own supporter fulfills neither mission, in the 
bravery of her heart she undertakes the task. 

Tell us, would it not require much self-denial to 
enter upon such a work ? She has put all those 
things which go to make up a woman's happiness 
far from her, and without wavering in her purpose 
she turns her back upon them all. 

Tell us, dear reader, does not such a woman 
merit your kind words ? Is she not entitled to 
your reverence rather than your sneers ? Have 



150 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

you nothing you can say to her when you meet, 
that shall encourage her heart to carry on the 
work she has commenced ? Can you not convey 
to her some idea of the estimation in which such 
an one should be held, by your words of kindly 
sympathy ? Should not such a woman receive 
the same amount paid man, for equal labor per- 
formed by her ? You who are constantly telling 
of woman's work, and are urging upon those 
whom wealth has surrounded with blessings the 
necessity of fulfilling their mission at home, have 
you no word for those whom necessity forces into 
a life of drudgery and toil ? She may have been 
interested in what you said to her companions as 
they left their school-life, in regard to their being 
content with their present surroundings. Still, 
she thought, while you were speaking, that they 
had pleasant homes, respectable parents, and 
wealth, to provide all comforts, and how could 
they help being satisfied ? Although she strives 
to close her mouth against all murmurs, she feels 
that she has none of these blessings, and her heart 
yearns for some word of sympathy from you that 
shall encourage her in doing right. Will you 
allow the fact of her being obliged to toil through 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



iSi 



life impress itself so forcibly upon your mind as to 
cause you to neglect her, and, by so doing, force 
her to feel that she is isolated from all those about 
her for this very reason ? Remember that man's 
sin has forced many a woman into a life of almost 
servitude and to take upon herself a man's duty. 
So it is in the case alluded to; and yet can you so 
far forget this as to treat her as though she were 
inferior to you ? Know you, If you would do 
such a thing, we would place such a woman as 
high above you in true nobleness of character and 
Christian spirit as the heavens are high above the 
earth. Oh ! could you penetrate into the inner- 
most recesses of such an one's heart, as she meets 
the jostling crowd, many of which shrink from her 
lest they touch her garments, or smile at her ap- 
parent poverty, you would find her longing for 
some place where she could rest and commune 
with her Maker. 

If your nobleness of character equaled hers, you 
would take pains to give her a kind word, — and 
who knows but that very word might save her 
from hours of bitterness and loneliness of spirit? 
A word is a little thing, and yet there are single 
words uttered daily which shall speak throughout 



152 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

all eternity. Our lives are made up of little 
things; and oh, forget not that the toiler's life is 
made up of little things as well as your own ! 
Tell the one who is almost sinking beneath the 
burdens which have fallen upon her, that if they 
are bravely borne here, they shall be woven into 
a crown of rejoicing hereafter. Thus should we 
deal with all the burdened ones, lest we convey 
to them the idea that no one cares for either their 
body or soul. We owe every toiling, suffering 
woman our sympathy and encouragement as a 
Christian duty; and you, who profess Christianity 
and yet fail in this respect, the true spirit of Christ 
is not in you. Strengthen those who are bravely 
struggling and laboring for duty's sake, when a 
life of ease and comfort may have been dis- 
regarded, for duty has a greater claim upon us 
than pleasure, and integrity is of far more conse- 
quence than happiness. 

We have said much of woman's work, and of 
the power she can wield through her influence ; and 
we now can assert with equal truth and positive- 
ness that man has an influence which he does 
not fully understand himself Men seldom g\w^ 
a thought to the extremities to which woman will 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



153 



betake herself rather than subject herself to their 
sarcasm ; and yet, if driven to meet it, she will do 
so bravely and unflinchingly. They never pause 
to think how precious their words of sympathy or 
commendation would be to a heart that longs for 
them now, but which in time will be just as thor- 
oughly happy and satisfied without them. We 
appeal to you, men, who are constantly watching 
over those whose every step is guarded and walled 
in by home affection, who have no need of your 
care and who heed it not, your efforts being worse 
than useless, to devote your time, attention, and 
labors to those whose weakness you may aid in 
becoming a power, and to whom your kind words 
of advice and appreciation will be like new inspira- 
tion, while their lives would become more tolera- 
ble. Were all women alike, — we mean all women 
who are dependent upon their own efforts for sup- 
port, — there would be no need of making this 
appeal. If every woman was sufficiently strong, 
self-reliant, and independent to accept her life just 
as she finds it, and would labor diligently and act 
well her part in life, there would be no need of 
sympathy as an encouragement. This is not the 
case, however, for there are those who seem to be 

14 



154 -4S IT SHOULD BE, 

so weak that nothing but kindness and gentleness 
will enable them to struggle unto the end. Dally 
we hear and read of suicides, and we most sin- 
cerely believe that two-thirds of them are occa- 
sioned by our refusing to mankind the love and 
sympathy which their hearts long for. Oh the 
agony that soul must endure, to force itself into 
eternity upon its own responsibility! There will 
be much to meet in the hereafter which we have 
scarcely thought of. 

No two persons are just alike in all their pecu- 
liarities, and for this reason we shall have just as 
many different experiences as there are persons 
upon the earth. We ought not, we must not, we 
dare not, measure the experience of all by that of 
one, lest we commit an almost unpardonable sin. 
For this reason no two persons can be treated in 
just the same manner with the same results. We 
must study human nature in general, and each 
individual in particular, if we would make our lives 
a success by always doing as we would be done by. 

The question now presents Itself as to whether 
young ladies are benefited by the instructions 
which are usually delivered before them and for 
them in public. The young lady is about to 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



155 



relinquish her school-home for her own home of 
affluence, where wealth supplies her every wish as 
soon as expressed, and servants are ready to an- 
swer her every beck and do her every bidding, so 
that there is little or nothing left for her to do. She 
leaves her Alma Mater with your words ringing 
in her ears in regard to her duty of making home 
happy ; but she goes a step beyond your most 
flowery speeches in the very first question which 
your words will suggest, which will be, " How am 
I to do this?" You have described to her, with 
minutest details, a beautiful picture which she can 
paint if she will ; but you have not told her hozv 
to paint the same. There has been nothing said 
in regard to the use of the brush, the colors to be 
used, or how they shall be mixed and blended ; 
and now she finds herself longing to accomplish 
the work, but ignorant of the manner in which 
it must be done. 

You told her to comfort and sustain her parents, 
to aid the poor, and to make herself generally use- 
ful. . These directions will be thought of by the 
young lady if she has any noble aspirations, and 
she will attempt to follow them, and yet one-half 
of her time will be unemployed. It is true that 



156 ^-S IT SHOULD BE. 

many — ay, far too many — young ladles leave 
our fashionable boarding-schools with no aspira- 
tions at all, save the desire to excel and surpass 
all others in fashionable dress. But now, as we 
are speaking of our New England schools, we are 
glad that we can say that cases of this description 
are the exceptions rather than the rule. 

But to return to our subject. When the young 
girl has complied with your requirements, she 
finds that she is wholly dissatisfied with herself, 
and longs for something to do which shall bring 
her peace and contentment. What is she to do 
then? Her heart throbs and swells with great 
thoughts, and a noble ambition fills her soul, but 
the great question now is, " How shall I use these 
thoughts ?" " Who shall direct me, so that out 
of this confusion I may bring order and beauty ?" 
Ah ! you who have inculcated the principles of 
woman's home-work, here is where your teachings 
fall far short of what they should have been. Can 
you so direct her now that each day shall evolve 
new and beautiful worlds of thought ? The ma- 
terial is there out of which a beautiful structure 
can be raised ; but who of you who have had so 
much to say will, or rather can, aid her by your 



AS IT SHOULD BE. I^^ 

counsels in laying the foundation-stones ? Can 
you give to her a satisfactory answer to her ques- 
tion of how she shall spend her time, — a practical 
answer, which when carried into execution by her 
will bring her that satisfied feeling for which she 
is so earnestly longing ? 

These theories which are being constantly ad- 
vanced, as to how young ladies should spend their 
time and secure their own happiness, are all very 
well, but we need something more than a mere 
theory. If you suggest such a thing, accompany 
it with explicit directions for a successful applica- 
tion of the same. We need practical truths now, 
and if you cannot give them, then all that you have 
said in the many years that are past is as an idle 
tale, and you have accomplished nothing. 

What is the use of telling young girls that their 
place is by the home fireside, when by so doing 
you are encouraging that which has become an 
evil, almost, among American ladies, and that is, 
their fondness for gentlemen's society? Men 
mount the rostrum and inform young ladies in 
the most confidential manner that at some time, 
in all probability, they will be married; just as 
though these listeners before him had never given 



158 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

such a possibility a single thought. Could the 
significant smiles which passed fi-om one face to 
another have been interpreted they would have 
told volumes as to whether this was an unheard- 
of subject to them or not. 

This idea of marriage being the culminating 
point of a woman's existence, the one thing to be 
desired and hoped for, has been inculcated with 
far more thoroughness than any other one thing 
in their minds, and this subject often occupies 
their minds and time fully. A little girl of only 
four summers must have been conversant with 
this subject, when, after asking her papa for a gold 
watch and being told she should have one when she 
was twenty years old, she replied, *' Why, I shall be 
married then, papa !" We have had too much of 
this talk already, and need something more whole- 
some for thought. 

The woman's-rights movement has been occa- 
sioned, to a certain extent, by the lack of some- 
thing which women feel the need of, in order that 
they may make life what it should be. It is an 
awakening from the lethargy and inactivity of 
years to the knowledge that woman has some- 
thing to do. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



159 



We cannot but admire the spirit which prompted 
such efforts, but they have gone a step too far in 
their anxiety to do good, although they may have 
set out in the right direction. 

Nothing would please us more than to see all 
women startled from the frivolity of their lives, and 
accepting woman's work as it is, entering into it 
with all the earnestness of their natures, which is 
so essential to the success of an undertaking ; but 
we would not have this done at the expense of 
their own womanhood. 

But here we may say that women, as a whole, 
are not what men would represent them to be. If 
one woman is sufficiently unmindful of her own 
health and strength as to go out upon our wet 
streets with feet scarcely protected from the 
moisture on account of thin-soled slippers, thus 
endangering her life, this does not merit the 
bestowal of the same epithet upon all females 
that you bestow on this one, nor does it warrant 
all being charged with the same indiscretion. If 
one woman wears corsets unhealthfuUy tight, 
must all women be censured whether they are 
guilty or not? Does one female gossip make 
gossips of all of her sisters? Does the fact 



l6o -45 IT SHOULD BE. 

that a few women, comparatively speaking, are 
anxious to make themselves notorious in polit- 
ical life by demanding the ballot, thus winning 
for themselves the title of female demagogues, 
class all women with these few, and make all 
interested in the movement? If one woman 
does a foolish thing, men accuse the whole sex of 
the same act; or if women, as a whole, perform 
some silly deed once, men look upon them as 
constantly repeating the same actions. 

We fail to see how such a thing can be just and 
right ; but in spite of the unfairness upon the face 
of such a proceeding, we know that such has been 
and is now the case. This is a wrong of itself, for 
if those of the opposite sex were not guilty of 
doing foolish things, that would change the ap- 
pearance of the whole matter. Some men are so 
silly as to wear corsets; why are they not all 
charged with this same foolishness ? What need 
is there of stigmatizing women as "gossips," when 
one man can do more real, lasting, injurious slander 
in a town than all the women in the place com- 
bined ? Whatever story or rumor a woman may 
repeat is looked upon as coming from a woman, 
and little attention is paid to it; but when a 



AS IT SHOULD BE. l6i 

man repeats a statement it is generally believed, 
for it is known that men never gossip. (?) 

Our country stores are famous for male gossip- 
ing, and every evening the men collect in these 
places to talk over the affairs of the day, which is 
made up generally of conversations in regard to 
other people and other people's business, and the 
injury they do is incalculable. If we were anxious 
to ruin a neighbor's character, we would rather 
have that neighbor brought up for conversation in 
a country grocery on a winter's night, while the 
men are there, huddled about the stove, than any 
other place we know of The work desired would 
be thoroughly accomplished, and the ruin wrought 
in less time than anywhere else under the sun. 

Why not style all men as given to gossip, when 
we know there are some who merit the title in the 
largest sense of the term? Let us be just, then, 
for if woman were to seize upon the weaknesses 
peculiar to some men and apply them to all, we 
might have the one sex as deeply branded as the 
other. Human nature is just as varied among 
females as it is among males, and when you strive 
to remove an accusation resting upon a brother 
man on the ground that his nature is entirely 



l62 ^^ ^T SHOULD BE. 

different from that of another friend who is suf- 
fering under the same charge, remember that 
woman is entitled to the same consideration at 
your hands. They are not like a flock of sheep, 
so much alike as to carry the same brand. Woman 
does not need to be put to silence, but rather give 
her encouragement, so that she may discover the 
secret of being a true woman, and be enabled to 
direct her labors in the right direction. 

There are women who have been so grievously 
wronged by the law in the hands of man that it 
is not a matter of surprise that they have been 
goaded on to demand the ballot, in order that they 
may control their own interests. There has been 
the separating of mothers and children, and we 
assure you there is nothing that will so arouse 
a woman's whole being to enmity toward you as 
for you to deprive her of her offspring. The in- 
equality of salary paid has already been alluded 
to; and when a woman is competent to fill a man's 
place and makes her labor satisfactory to her 
employers, but is paid only about one-half the 
amount which her predecessor received, is it 
surprising that her heart rebels ? Would it be a 
great wonder if such women as these should at- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



163 



tempt to work a reform, and in all honesty of heart 
demand the ballot as the only means they can 
have of protecting themselves from the injustice 
of men ? Tliey may be mistaken in their views 
of the subject, and yet they honestly believe that 
their own views are their only hope. Thus they 
go to their graves worn out with the toil, care, 
and worry of the struggle. The memories of 
such women should be preserved with all possible 
sacredness. There should be no sneers or sarcastic 
remarks, for their motives were the noblest that 
actuate human beings, and should be revered by 
us, although the means used to accomplish the 
work desired were not such as to please us well. 
It was wrongs from the hand of man which first 
induced them to lift their voice, and for this reason 
man should be held accountable for these wrongs, 
and he should be careful how he speaks of that 
which he himself originated. 

In "As She would have It" it will be remem- 
bered that we alluded to the reply frequently given 
by young men in ansAver to the question, '* Why 
don't you marry?" Woman's extravagance is given 
as the cause of their present single state, as they 
cannot afford to support a wife. Why do they not 



1 64 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

speak the truth, and say that the additional ex- 
pense of a wife, in connection with their own ex- 
travagance, would be more than their means would 
allow? This last consideration ought not to pre- 
vent them from becoming happy, for it has now 
become quite fashionable, and indeed we may say 
customary, for men to lay their hands upon and 
appropriate to themselves all the money that 
comes within their reach. Strange as it may seem, 
they will not refuse bonds, notes, or anything that 
can be converted into money. 

We do not quite approve of this plan, and would 
not advise its universal adoption ; still, what we 
have said is true. " Men are not extravagant," 
says one ; but we know that they are, and the 
young men in particular. The majority of young 
men have become so effeminate in their tastes in 
many respects that nothing save that which might 
be termed woman's work is considered suitable 
employment for them, and to stand behind the 
counter selling tape, needles, and pins to dirty- 
faced children is the height of their ambition. 
Then they must dress in the most fashionable 
style, smoke the best cigars, drink the choicest 
wines, drive fast horses, and play cards and bil- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 1 65 

liards, and, with the salary which young men re- 
ceive for the employment mentioned, it is not a 
wonder that they cannot support a wife after pro- 
viding themselves with all these luxuries. This is 
only another instance of woman being charged 
and blamed with something of which she is not 
guilty. 

These young men are just as fastidious in their 
selection of a wife as they are in making the selec- 
tion of their luxuries, as they term them. The 
wine may be of the best brand, the cigars the 
choicest, the clothes of the finest cloth, the horses 
of noted pedigree, and billiards and cards played 
in the most respectable places now, but their com- 
bined influence tends to a man's ruin, and in eight 
cases out often such young men end their days in 
the gutter, or some place even more loathsome, 
with scarcely rags enough upon them to cover their 
nakedness, victims to poor whisky and gambling. 

As we said, in the selection of a wife the young 
man will be fastidious in his tastes, and his choice 
will be governed by appearances, — the fine clothes, 
the pretty face, the showy jewelry, — without giving 
a thought to what may follow. Instead of seeking 
true merit in a good, loving-hearted, plain woman, 

15 



1 66 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

he will follow in the train of fashion's imitators, 
good for nothing in themselves ; but such a 
woman will be his wife if he marries at all. 

Let us suppose that woman is extravagant, if 
you please, and what is the result ? What object 
has she in view in dressing so elaborately ? Why, 
because men measure a woman by her toilet rather 
than her brains ; so brains are neglected, and how 
to dress becomes her every-day study. To make 
her chances of gaining a husband equal to those 
of her sisters about her, she sacrifices almost 
everything, in order that she may dress well. 
Women understand the men in this respect, even 
though they do make woman's extravagance a 
continual source of outcry. Experience has taught 
them that a fashionably-dressed woman will al- 
ways gain the recognition of gentlemen, while the 
plainly-dressed one is passed by unnoticed. As 
we have passed along the street and noticed what 
might be termed the genteel gentleman, as he 
tips his hat so gallantly to some walking adver- 
tisement, — pardon, we should have said some ele- 
gantly-dressed lady, — we have noticed the smile 
which would wreathe her face at this act, which is 
called politeness. Follow the same lady, if you 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 167 

please, to the outskirts of the town, where im- 
provements are going on, and only a foot-path 
sufficiently wide for one has been elevated above 
the mire occasioned by the last rain. As she pro- 
ceeds on her way, she meets a laboring man, and 
he, rather than cause her to soil her dainty boots 
in the least, steps from the walk into the mud so 
that she may pass ; and this she does, without 
even so much as a " thank you" for the man's con- 
sideration, which was politeness in truth. Had 
she met her dandified friend in the same place, 
there would not have been the same politeness 
manifested by him that was manifested by the one 
whom she did meet, for he would have been as 
anxious about his own boots as she was about 
hers, which would have resulted in both being 
mired more or less. You may think such acts 
are of little consequence. Well, if they are, it 
will cost you but little to reward the act with 
a simple " thank you." Do not allow the daily 
toiler to excel you in true politeness, but show 
him that you appreciate any act he may render 
you by a proper acknowledgment of the same. 

Now, the teachings of those who make the 
woman's mission that of the wife and mother 



1 68 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

naturally lead one to infer that she must leave no 
means unimproved to gain and fulfill her destined 
lot and position. This cannot be performed until 
a man is secured, and, in order to obtain such a 
prize now, woman must dress herself according 
to the best authority, in order to satisfy the de- 
mands and tastes of those who are to be her pro- 
tectors. There are but few women who love to 
dress elegantly just for the sake of dressing; it is 
all done to make them look as well as possible 
and render them attractive, — not in the eyes of 
their own sex, but in the sight of those who rule 
the world. 

When men put in this plea, as the reason for 
not marrying, they render themselves doubly 
guilty by so doing. They are to blame as the 
direct cause of the evil which they are continually 
talking about ; and, then, they are to blame for 
high notions themselves. This extravagance has 
been a hobby on which some men have ridden to 
their graves ; while, in truth, two-thirds of their 
anxiety was caused by imagination. When we sit 
down and reckon the expenses of a gentleman and 
lady, individually occupying the same position in 
life and society, we find, in many instances, that 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 1 69 

the extravagance may be imputed to the other sex 
altogether. 

It would be just as reasonable for a lady to reply 
to this same question, if asked her, that the young 
men are too extravagant in their manner of living 
to admit of their taking a wife. 

Now, instead of educating the young in the idea 
that marriage is the great object of human exist- 
ence, and fitting them, as you term it, to become 
wives and mothers, would it not be better to im- 
press upon their minds the necessity of becoming 
noble women? A girl may become a wife, and 
yet never attain to a high type of true womanhood; 
but vice versa, and she is both. She who is a true 
woman, cannot fail to become a good wife. If a 
young lady, the child of wealthy parents, is silly 
and foolish while with them at home, there is no 
reason to expect she will be any different if she 
marries and becomes the mistress of a poor man's 
home. Think you such a change would develop 
her into a brave, self-reliant woman ? Sometimes 
this result is obtained by the change, but the oc- 
currences are rare. If her education had been 
such as would have developed her nature before 
marriage, she would have been prepared for any 
15* 



170 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

position she might be called upon to fill, and fitted 
to become the best of wives. Show me the young 
lady who walks uprightly, virtuously, who guides 
her course with a steady hand, making her steps 
those of advancement continually, and I will show 
you a woman who will make your home bright 
and cheerful, and one who will direct her family 
with the judgment and wisdom which bitter expe- 
rience has taught her. 

The errors and false theories which arc being 
instilled into the minds of the young are ruining 
thousands, and unfitting them all for the work 
there is for them to do. Let the standard of a 
noble woman be raised high toward Heaven, and 
then let each one exert herself and do the best she 
can, with her utmost powers, to reach that standard. 
This must be done if she would gain that respect, 
and almost reverence, which is for her. 

Women demand respect ; and yet, ofttimes, 
they cannot command it. You have it in your 
own hands whether you will be a dead weight 
upon society, or a bright and shining light on 
account of the purity of your life and the Chris- 
tianity visible in your actions. If you would make 
life a success you must have your character well 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



171 



developed, controlled, and guided by those attri- 
butes which are peculiar to Christ only. No one 
else can be for you what you ought to be in your- 
self, and whatever is done for your individual ad- 
vancement must be done by your individual self. 
Woman's lack of thorough education is in truth 
the greatest hindrance of all to her progress. 

This idea of womanly beauty consisting in fra- 
gility and feebleness has been so thoroughly pro- 
mulgated throughout our country that it has 
become an evil very serious in its character. This 
doctrine has produced thousands of weak, sickly 
things, so delicate in themselves, apparently, that 
a good breeze might endanger the possibility of 
their bodies holding joint to joint. When children, 
they were robust, strong, and healthy, with full, 
round faces, and red cheeks ; and what has pro- 
duced the change ? The manner of living w^iich 
they have adopted to beautify themselves has been 
a decided success, they think; while people of the 
outside world look upon them, and pronounce them 
delicately beautiful. Of course there are those who 
are invalids, in truth ; having inherited diseases and 
evils from parents, and contracted others which 
render their lives almost unbearable. Our remarks 



1^2 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

do not apply to such ; for of all the patient women 
in the world, one of this description will be an 
example. And God pity such sufferers, and give 
them strength necessary for the endurance of each 
day's trials ! As it is, many of them put us to 
shame on account of what they accomplish and 
the diligence with which they toil. Should fashion 
set up a bright, ruddy, happy face, as its standard 
of beauty, we would be surprised at the change 
which would be wrought. Let this monarch send 
forth the edict that idleness henceforth shall be 
considered vulgar and woman's fragility a thing 
of the past, and there will be a great commotion 
in the desire to obey the command in order that 
they may be pronounced fashionable. Fashion is 
the supreme controlling power ; and, to accomplish 
much, we must make the work before us a matter 
of fashion, which will insure its success. 

Weak moral natures as well as weak physical 
natures are not the characteristics of true women. 
We have no sympathy with those who, simply to 
attract the attention of men, will affect to be un- 
able to do perhaps the smallest act for themselves. 
They have so little independence of their own, 
that, rather than speak their honest belief, they 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



173 



compromise their own veracity in order that their 
views upon any subject may accord with the ideas 
expressed by men. We have said we have no 
sympathy with such women, and we have not; for 
they merit every true woman's contempt. 

We must have more strong, self-rehant women ; 
not strong in the sense in which the suffrage party 
would use the word, but strong in their moral and 
physical natures. If necessity bids them go there 
or remain here, do this or do that, we need women 
who can obey the summons without being obliged 
to delay the time for the undertaking for a week 
or more in order that they may have gentlemen 
escorts to aid them. And here a word may be said 
in regard to the practicability or impracticability 
of ladies traveling alone. 

We believe that any lady, if she is a lady indeed, 
can travel almost anywhere alone without fear of 
being insulted or molested. When a woman is 
obliged to undertake a journey alone, let her go 
straight forward as though she understood her 
own business, knew just where she was going, 
and at what time she would reach her destination. 
If she follows these directions she will be troubled 
in no way. Note the difference, please, in the 



1 74 ^'S ^T SHOULD BE. 

following instances : Two ladies entered a railway 
car and seated themselves ; their " traps" indicating 
that they had set out upon a considerable journey. 
They were both ignorant of the road over which 
they were to travel, and had not much of an idea 

at what time they would reach the city of B ~, 

and were ignorant of the destination of each other. 
In a short time the conductor passed through the 
car, and, as he took up the ticket of the first lady, 

she asked at what time they would reach B . 

Telling her the time of arrival there, and that she 
would be obliged to stay there over night in order 
to make the proper connections, she kept him 
several moments in answering her questions. In 
a short time she leaned forward, and inquired of a 
gentleman in front something in regard to the 
hotel accommodations of the place where she 
would be obliged to stop over night. So on 
through the day, speaking to this gentleman or 
that; and, by the time the city was reached, the 
whole car company were acquainted with her 
plans, and her very ignorance had placed her in 
the power of those who are ever on the alert for 
victims. 

The second one asked no questions ; but by 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



175 



attention and observation she ascertained all the 
information needed, and upon her arrival in the 
city she passed directly to the porter from the 
hotel where she had decided to stop, with all the 
confidence of one who had made the trip time and 
time again. 

In nine cases out of ten a lady is much safer in 
her own society than in that of any gentleman 
who may accompany her ; for men are not to be 
trusted ; no, not the best of them, sometimes. 

The very things necessary to woman's strength 
will only develop her into a more glorious woman- 
hood. 

In all that we have said in regard to the work 
there is for woman to do, it will be found that we 
have regarded the success of her labors as depend- 
ent upon her becomxing an earnest, active Chris- 
tian. Of what consequence is the life of a woman 
who is such a weak, useless thing, as to be scarcely 
able to drag out her own existence, even with the 
aid of those about her? How can we expect that 
such a person will be of any assistance to her 
suffering sisters, or accomplish her own work? 
To ask for such a thing would be as unreasonable 
as the desired result is impossible. 



176 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

We find that the first great essential to a strong 
moral character is the disposition and desire to do 
right under all circumstances and in all places ; 
not only in the sight of the people, but all alone 
in the sight of God. When this principle has 
become so firmly fixed in the mind as to enable 
one to oppose that which she knows to be wrong 
even though the act may bring her into a contro- 
versy with man, then we may consider the founda- 
tion of her character well laid. We wish we could 
impress upon the mind of every female the necessity 
of relying more upon herself and her own efforts. 
Do not hesitate to take any step essential to your 
own interests, even though you may be called 
strong-minded by those who do not know the 
difference between a strong-minded woman and 
one who is anxious to fit herself for a noble 
womanhood. 

To avoid giving out a mistaken impression, we 
would say that we do not for a moment think there 
should be no effort made to please the men. It is 
according to the natural order of things that we 
should please them ; but what we desire to fix in 
your minds is the necessity of your efforts being 
the outgrowth of sincere, honest motives, and of 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 1 77 

making them without any restraint or secrecy. If 
your purposes are sincere, and carried out with 
candor, success cannot fail to become yours. If, 
however, you attempt to please at the sacrifice of 
your own individuality, you will surely fail. Above 
all things be honest in your dealings with all, and 
have your actions so stamped with frankness that 
no one will for a moment consider them the result 
of a designing mind. 

To those who look only upon the surface of 
female life, the flow may seem quiet, with but little 
to disturb the smoothness ; but beneath the appa- 
rent calm there is a deep current whose power is 
increasing daily, and of whose existence the world 
is in almost entire ignorance. There are anxious 
longings for something higher, better than she has 
known ; a discontent with what she is, and a rest- 
lessness under it all which is destroying the cheer- 
fulness of many a life. This is something woman 
has not asked for. She knows not from whence it 
came, although it is becoming a part of her life ; 
and still she has not the power to resist its in- 
fluences. 

We know what these feelings are. We remem- 
ber how we suffered; how we reached out after 

16 



178 ^-S IT SHOULD BE. 

soniolliini:^, wc scarce knew what. There arc 
Ihousaiuls to-da)' in this very condition, feehnj^ 
tliat there is a hidden power within ; but they know 
not how to develop it. They have high aspira- 
tions and lofty ambitions ; but how shall they be 
satisfied ? They know not what to do with them- 
selves, and feel as though the world had no place 
for them. 

To such let us say, first, that in nothing will 
true comfort and rest be found but in fearing God 
and keeping His commandments. This is the 
foundation of exery true, noble character; and if 
you would be such, you must make these things 
the foundation upon which you are to build as an 
individual. You ma)- ask God daily, yes, hourly, 
for the bread }'ou need to satisfy your spiritual 
longings, and )'ou w ill never be turned away with 
the stone which \-cni have so often received from 
your fellow-beings. Occupying whatever position 
you may in life, you have the assurance that you 
arc in your own place, and the one designed for 
you. This being true, it should be your one great 
aim and object to fill your place well. 

Somewhere we have read of one who was anx- 
ious to i\<y something in this world, lie had 



AS IT SHOULD BE. lyg 

talents as well as ambition ; but he was waiting, 
day after day, for an opportunity to present itself 
when he could make known to the world his own 
worth. His soul was restless, and as he stood one 
day absorbed in anxious thought, wondering what 
his life was to be, where and when he should enter 
upon it, longing to be at work, a poorly-clad 
woman, old, bent over, and wrinkled with age, — 
an excellent specimen of what we term hag, — 
approached him unobserved. When she was 
directly opposite him, she spoke; and the man 
was startled from his reverie by hearing the 
words, " Now and Here !" The woman passed on, 
and the eyes of the listener followed her until he 
saw her form become erect, and her rags changed 
into wings, then disappear from sight. 

Then he saw the mistake of his life; how he 
had been neglecting his work, thinking it was not 
ready for him. He had been looking away for 
opportunities, while thousands of them lay at his 
very door. Here and Now ! became the two words 
which governed his life ; and he soon found that 
there was no cause to look for work. There is 
not one but can find plenty of work to do at the 
present moment. Do you doubt it? If you do, 



l8o ^-S IT SHOULD BE, 

glance at our world so full of sin and misery, and 
tell us if you can satisfy your conscience by telling 
yourself that there is nothing for you to do ? With 
the love of God supreme in your heart you are 
then fitted to become a wife and mother, or to 
grace the sphere of maidenhood. Earthly affection 
must be secondary to our love for the Deity, and 
entirely separate from it, so that if we govern our 
love according to these principles we shall never 
make unto ourselves idols, which, sooner or later, 
we must find nothing but clay. 

The first thing you must do, my dear young 
ladies, is to ascertain just where you stand. If you 
are not satisfied with your position, be brave, and 
with courage make the confession. When this step 
has been taken, apply to your soul the assurance 
that God is the Supreme Ruler over all things, and 
as such you owe Him reverence, obedience, and 
love. You may feel that you are of but little con- 
sequence in the world, or to Him ; but can you con- 
tinue to think so when you remember that every 
hair of your head is numbered, because of His love 
for you ; and that He yearns to guide and direct 
you in your life-path, if you will only allow Him 
to do so ? 



AS IT SHOULD BE. l8i 

But now something more than mere remem- 
brance of these things is necessary. You must 
take these truths into your own heart, and make 
God your own tender, loving, watchful father. 
This done, and you are ready to follow wherever 
His hand may lead. 

If you are really sincere in your desires " to be 
somebody" and accomplish some good work in 
the world, and have the will to carry out your 
desires, you can become anything you please, and 
accomplish all that you undertake. Take your 
stand at some given place, a place which you are 
capable of filling now; for just as soon as you 
prove yourself qualified for something higher, that 
place will be opened to you. You alone can de- 
cide which place in the world is best for you, by 
observing in what position you are the most suc- 
cessful. Too many of us reach after things which 
we think must lie very high above us ; but we 
continue our search without success, because the 
longed-for object lies at our very feet, and in our 
blindness we have lost it. Do not despise the 
little things of life, for our lives are made up of 
them. Remember that you will experience more 
real joy and happiness in drinking from the little 
1 6* 



1 82 -45 IT SHOULD BE. 

rills of everyday happiness than you will ever 
realize from a draught of that mighty stream of 
great achievements. We entreat of you, spend 
not all your time in seeking for this great river, 
when a tiny rivulet of some good deed flows by 
your very dwelling-place, which will fully slake 
the thirst of your longing nature. But few reach 
great heights of popularity in this world, and 
those who have gained the highest point have 
gained it at the sacrifice of the best years of 
their lives, their homes, friends, and some at the 
cost of their own souls. Their way has been a 
rugged, cheerless one, and when this was finished, 
their ambition satisfied, they sat down to count 
the cost and worth of their achievements, which 
satisfied them that that which they possessed had 
cost far more than it was worth. They might have 
spent their lives on the lowlands, surrounded by 
the friends they left there, and have been far hap- 
pier ; but they are all gone, and they are forced to 
accept the truth that they must live as they are, 
and in the position for which they gave up every 
pleasant earthly joy. 

Labor diligently, then, to accomplish your pres- 
ent work and all that comes within your reach at 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 1 83 

the present time, and when you have made a suc- 
cess of your present task you will find a higher 
sphere of labor ready for you. Obstacles, like 
mountains, may arise before you, friends may op- 
pose your every step, and enemies confront you 
on every hand, until it seems as though you must 
relinquish the conflict ; but do not get discour- 
aged, for if you are in your right sphere the Divine 
power which you believe rules over all, and of 
course governs you, is greater than all these things 
combined. The love which you believe God has 
for His children is being constantly exerted toward 
you, for He loves you better than you do yourself, 
and, consequently, must be more interested in your 
welfare than you are yourself If He loves you so 
well, then nothing will come to you save that 
which shall tend to the developing of you into a 
stronger and better woman. Be faithful, then ; 
struggle on ; for what seems so mysterious now 
will soon be revealed to you in the clear light of 
God's divine plan for your own good. Too many 
of us live as though we thought our existence was 
to continue here for ever and ever. We plan for 
ourselves, and labor for the carrying out of these 
plans, with so much selfishness that no one would 



1 84 -4S IT SHOULD BE. 

have any idea that we regarded our hves as h"m- 
ited in duration. We forget that our three-score 
and ten years are given us as a training-time to fit 
us for eternity, and that this time must be filled up 
with trials and sorrows, rather than joy and happi- 
ness. Each bitter cup is presented to us to test us, 
to strengthen and develop our characters. We all 
are acquainted with the process of purifying metals; 
and we know that heat — fire — is necessary, if we 
would obtain the article without alloy. So in our 
lives : the purifying process needs the fire of sor- 
row and pain to burn up the dross and alloy in our 
characters and make us what we should be. Your 
individual temperament may need one kind of sor- 
row and temptation to bring to light its hidden 
worth, and ours may need something entirely dif- 
ferent. He who is wisdom itself measures out to 
us just what we need; and, if we will only accept 
it as coming from His hands who doeth all things 
well, and acknowledge the mission of the suffer- 
ing, the desired work will be accomplished, and 
we shall be made stronger thereby. Byron says, — 

" But grief should be the instructor of the wise. 
Sorrow is knowledge ; they who know the most 
Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth." 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 185 

And such will be true of each individual expe- 
rience if we will only recognize that all-directing 
hand. When we are at the bitter waters of Marah 
drinking, let us place our hands on our mouths, 
lest we in our blindness say, " This is not what we 
need." It is just what you need; it is just what 
we need, and sooner or later we will all realize the 
fact fully. 

And now, reader, are you longing for something 
to do in this great, busy world of ours ? Are 
your hands wearied from their inactivity, and are 
they now ready to work in true earnestness ? 
Then why are you not up and doing? Because 
there is no field of labor for you ? Why, bless 
your heart, there is a field for you, a place which 
no one else can fill, a work which no one else 
can perform. Now is the time when you must 
commence, if you would better the world by your 
existence. You may feel that you can do but 
little ; but you must not allow this to discourage 
you or deter you from carrying your purpose into 
execution, thus performing the little which you can 
do, for that very little is just what is needed. 

A man desires to have a stone house built, and 
engages men to carry out his ' plan, for he wishes 



1 86 yiS IT SHOULD BE, 

the structure firm and secure. The stones are 
brought, and are of various sizes, as well as being 
irregular in shape, with the exception of those 
which have been cut and polished for the founda- 
tion stones and trimmings. The workmen com- 
mence ; the stones are examined one by one as 
they are taken up. If one is large and irregular 
in shape, a piece is knocked off here and another 
there until it is made to fill the place designed, into 
which it is laid with care. Another is taken up 
and treated in the same manner, then laid in its 
place; but the two just laid do not join together 
or touch save at one place. Now, small stones 
are needed to fill in the space, and they are taken 
and chipped wherever needed until, with the addi- 
tion of cement, they fit in the opening. Thus the 
work is carried on until the building is completed 
and nearly all the material used. Of course there 
were stones in which there were flaws, and the 
touch of the hammer shivered them into a thou- 
sand pieces. Had the workmen discarded all the 
small stones, the walls would have been ungainly 
as well as insecure, and, before the roof had been 
completed, the walls would have fallen in. But, 
as it was, each stone, both great and small, united 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



187 



with the cement, was necessary to make the walls 
strong, while the outward appearance of the struc- 
ture is smooth and regular. 

The human family, since the Christian era, may 
be regarded as the material for a grand building, 
with Christ as the foundation and the apostles the 
polished and regular trimmings, — God's love the 
cement. Some persons may be capable of doing 
much in the world ; but, before they are ready for 
their proper place in this great structure, they 
must pass through the hands of the master-work- 
man, who will strike a blow here, smoothing off 
some rough or obnoxious point in the charac- 
ter, and then there, and so on until they are de- 
prived of those things which hinder them from 
being what they should be, and they are made 
ready for their own places. Those who are not 
fitted for the more . important work, on account of 
their lacking the power to do so much good, are 
subjected to the same process of cutting down by 
trials. There is a place in the world for each indi- 
vidual, and when one fails to perform his allotted 
task, the beauty and symmetry of the mighty work 
is forever marred. Do not give up your purpose 
of doing something in the world simply because 



1 88 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

your ability to do good is limited, for, by so doing, 
the want of the little you could do would be felt 
through all time and eternity. Yes, this want 
must be felt forever; and would that we could 
brand these words upon your memory, for your 
life does not end when you die, but lives on, in 
your influence, through all time, and must continue 
through all future ages ! 

Each individual has an influence ; and, whether 
it be exerted for good or evil, it must be felt just 
the same and for the same length of time. 

What if the way seems dreary and the path 
rugged sometimes, when we remember what may 
be ours in the hereafter, if w^e will only live for it? 
What though there be sorrow and sadness ? they 
will endure only for the night, and in the morning 
of Heaven all tears shall be wiped from our eyes. 

We are presenting to you now no hollow, mean- 
ingless theory, but facts, which an innumerable 
throng will verify by their testimony. The exist- 
ence of a God and the promise of a future place 
of rest few will dispute, while the earth itself is a 
verity to all. 

Now, if we would be truly happy in that prom- 
ised home, we must make the most of this, which 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



189 



is ours now, for the one who makes a success of 
Hfe here will be the better prepared to enjoy the 
unspeakable things to come. Do not attempt to 
measure your experience and life-work by that of 
any other human being, as we have said before, for 
by so doing you may wreck all your hopes of hap- 
piness. You will have an experience of your own, 
unlike that of any other person, — a work of your 
own similar to none other ever performed. Do 
whatever comes up before you with all the zeal and 
earnestness of your whole being. Be frank, honest, 
and truthful, for nothing lasting in good has ever 
been gained by deception. Have much charity 
and sympathy for suffering humanity about you, 
endeavoring by your words and actions to comfort 
the sorrowing, raise the fallen, and to bind up the 
broken-hearted. Keep yourselves young in spirits 
by being much in the society of children, and, 
while with them, make yourself one of their num- 
ber. Join in their childhood games and pranks, 
thus living over again in memory your own happy 
young life. If you cannot do this, mingling with 
them in this way, but while in their society you 
must be constantly chiding them for their noise, or 
reproving and setting them right again for the 

17 



IQO 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



natural overflow of their young, joyous hearts, 
you had better never mar their happiness by your 
presence, for such, indeed, would be the result of 
your visit. Do not quietly fold your hands in 
your own home and expect that work will come to 
you. Let the magnitude of your woman's mis- 
sion be ever kept in view and before you, and this 
will force you out in search of something to do. 
Espouse every cause and work that is for the en- 
couraging of virtue and uprightness, in opposition 
to crime and sin, and then labor diligently, that 
whatever you have undertaken may be advanced. 
Make human nature your great study, for, if you 
do not understand it, some of your best efforts 
will be worse than useless, on account of your not 
knowing how to adapt your dealings to the dis- 
position and temperament of the one whom you 
wish to benefit. You will find no two persons 
just alike, so that wiiat would benefit one might 
result in injury to another. Forget the past, save 
as you would recall its experience for a present 
benefit ; take no thought of the future only as you 
desire to fit yourself for its untold bliss, and this 
will leave you only just the present moment to 
live in. If to-day should convince you that you 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 19 1 

were mistaken in your belief of yesterday and 
opinions of the past, do not shrink from making 
confession of that fact. 

Woman, according to her nature, is far more 
susceptible to sorrows and trials than man. Let 
them come from whatever source they may, they 
come with double force upon her. The little, petty 
things of life, which men pass by unnoticed, often 
are to her of a wonderful weight, and still she 
bears her burdens well. We do not realize the 
fact fully, or we would give woman more credit 
for her powers of endurance than we do now. 
When we think of the sensitive shrinking nature 
with which she has been endowed, we cannot fail 
to perceive that a burden on the shoulders of the 
sterner sex must be twice as heavy on hers, on 
account of her natural peculiarities ; and when she 
endures trials, as she does, we ought to admit that 
she is often far more brave and courageous in this 
respect than man. 

Now, we have been talking of the common oc- 
currences of life and their hidden blessings, but 
with ourselves lies the secret of their resulting to 
us as they should. If we take sorrow and trials as 
coming from the hands of a loving Father, all will 



192 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



be well ; but if we sit down and brood over them, 
chafe and complain under them, closing our hearts 
against all happiness and cheerfulness, they will 
make our whole life burdensome, and thus fail to 
work out their destined mission. None have more 
sympathy for the sorrowing one than we have in 
our heart ; but when the affliction is treasured up 
in the heart and is always the subject of conversa- 
tion, we become wearied of the same old story, and 
we can but wonder why that troubled one does not 
bury all the disagreeable things out of sight for 
the sake of her own happiness. 

So, to every one who may read this little book 
we would say, when clouds come over your path- 
way, do not allow them to conceal from your view 
the many pleasing, joyous things which are every- 
where about you ; and do not test the sympathy 
of your friends too often, lest you weaken their 
friendship for you, for you are not only unhappy 
yourself, but you would make them unhappy with 
you. Rather look upon these heart-secrets as 
something too sacred for the eyes and ears of the 
world to see and hear. But few of them would 
appreciate your confidence or understand your 
feelings, for but few of the world's people have 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



193 



much feeling; so, for this reason, the exhibition 
you would make to them of your hidden life will 
only be sneered at by them and made a subject 
of ridicule. Forward, then, without fear, and she 
who helps herself will be aided by an unseen arm 
to that success which she desires. Make the reso- 
lution that you will rise above whatever impedes 
your progress, and then put the resolution into 
active operation. 

The one great means by which relief and com- 
fort may be gained and grief banished, is a busy 
life. Idleness tends to loneliness and discontent 
at any time ; but when some new burden has fallen 
upon you, as if it would crush out your very ex- 
istence, then unoccupied time is a curse upon you. 
Under any circumstances, an active live tends to 
happiness ; and now comes the question, " What 
shall we do ?" 



17* 



At the present time, nearly every field of labor 
has been thrown open to woman ; but, as yet, few 
have prepared themselves for any position save 
those which have heretofore been considered 
woman's work properly. We will not glance into 
this field of employment lately thrown open to 
woman, but regard her work as it has been. 
Teaching has always been regarded as a kind of 
labor for the performance of which woman was 
peculiarly adapted, and this idea has become so 
prevalent that nearly all girls who have a little 
smattering of knowledge consider themselves well 
fitted to become " school-ma'ams" at once. Thus, 
this field of labor is almost entirely filled with a 
class of individuals who do not merit the name of 
teachers. Girls do not appear to think it at all 
necessary that they should be possessed of certain 
qualifications absolutely essential to successful 
teaching. They have never examined themselves 
to see whether the work itself has any attractions 
194 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



195 



for them, or if they are entering upon the work 
as a matter of necessity only. 

Do you think the task an easy one ? It can 
only be made so by the neglecting of your duty 
to those committed to your charge; for if you 
labor faithfully you will have no time for ease, and 
your task will be anything than less severe, only 
as your love for the work itself increases. 

This idea of putting a simple school-girl at the 
head of a school, no matter what its numbers may 
be, whether they be few or many, is a gross injus- 
tice to the little ones. The idea advanced in the 
preceding pages of the flexibility of the young 
mind proves to us that when we do this we com- 
mit a great error, from which our own offspring 
must suffer. We need the very best of teachers 
always in our schools ; but the best, if a choice 
must be made, should be given to the children in 
their first school-days. Next to a mother's neglect 
of the training of her child's mind properly in 
infancy, stands the wrong of placing young chil- 
dren under the care of one who is but a child her- 
self in years, and whose judgment is scarcely more 
matured than those of her pupils. Our best in- 
terests demand a change in this respect. The 



196 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

standard of our common-school teachers must be 
elevated by engaging only the services of those 
whom nature, knowledge, and experience have 
rendered competent for the work. Sooner or later 
we shall all be made to realize the truth of what 
we have just stated, more fully, even, than we do 
now, and our country-school committees will for- 
get the first question always propounded to the 
applicant now, viz., " How much pay do you ex- 
pect ?" and the one seeking the work will be in- 
terrogated as to what she can do, and how much 
she knows. 

To secure success in this field of labor, should 
you enter upon it, you must have patience, you 
must study the dispositions and traits of character 
peculiar to each individual scholar, and you must 
strive to love your work on account of the good 
you may do to your little charges. Too many 
look upon the life in the school-room as quite 
genteel, not requiring much toil and knowledge, 
and, altogether, a very lady-like way of gaining a 
livelihood. Experience will soon convince you of 
the true state of affairs, and you will realize fully 
that both brains and muscle are necessary to the 
well-doing of the task you have taken upon your- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



197 



self. Let us assure you that you need a heart 
brimful of courage and hope, or you will be 
completely disheartened before the close of your 
first week's work. You must not forget that 
having once undertaken the task, you will be 
held responsible for the influence you may exert, 
and not for the object you had in view when you 
entered upon the life of a teacher. 

While there is much to cause one to shrink 
from such a life on account of its importance 
and responsibility, yet there is much, too, which 
renders it very attractive. The gathering about 
one of so many bright, cheerful faces, and the 
drawing out of their youthful affection toward 
yourself, is enough to make one happy. You 
can garner to yourself and your own heart such 
a store of pure love as will supply your whole 
after-life. Then, too, you have the knowledge 
that you are aiding in the formation of their char- 
acters, by your words and influence. Let your 
words be pure, and your influence what it should 
be, and you may know that you are doing a work 
which you will not hesitate to meet up yonder. 
You can inspire young hearts with noble aspira- 
tions, and encourage them to seek high attain- 



198 yiS IT SHOULD BE. 

merits. Next to the mother's work is the teacher's 
work, and though frequently it may appear to you 
as a dreary, thankless task, remember that not 
until time shall be no more will you know just 
how much you have accomplished here on earth. 
If this work which you have accepted be con- 
ducted as it should be, if the young minds are 
watched and cultivated, the result must inevitably 
be just what we so much need. As the little acorn 
of to-day may become the giant oak in after-years, 
so a tiny idea sown in youth may result in a 
mighty power for good in the future. Time 
will only strengthen every right influence, and 
mature years will give courage to resist all that 
is evil. 

It is your privilege to do much, and although 
there may be no outward indication now that your 
labors have availed aught, the words spoken have 
been indelibly engraved upon their minds, and, 
after years of maturity have been reached, the 
remembrance of your loving, patient toil will re- 
turn to them only to inspire them to be like you. 
The words of promise, *' Cast thy bread upon the 
waters, and after many days it shall be returned to 
thee," are just as true now as they ever were. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



199 



Labor cheerfully, then, for your reward will be 
in accordance with your works. 

Writing is another employment which females 
seek after, and many have reached almost the 
highest point in success. Of those who have, we 
have nothing to say, for their lives and works 
speak for themselves; but to each one just setting 
out in this life we would say, do not forget that our 
most brilliant writers must have been beginners at 
some time, and, doubtless, they met with many, 
very many, disappointments and discouragements; 
but they struggled bravely against all, and have at 
last gained the victory. 

Most girls will take the school-room in prefer- 
ence to the pen, but yet there are many who look 
upon the life of a writer as a very easy way of 
living. Only a short article, or story, whose un- 
reasonableness and lack of judgment in the selec- 
tion of characters are its principal attractions, is 
needed to place them on the top round of the 
ladder of fame. 

But there are a great many rounds to this 
ladder, and only one step can be taken at a time, 
and this step must be from one round to another. 
Earnest work and close application are needed 



200 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

now, for the public is getting very fastidious in 
its taste for reading-matter, and it demands the 
very best brain-work. This need not discourage 
you, necessarily. Persevere in your efforts, and 
if you can write with any merit at all, continue 
in your work, for you will improve with constant 
practice. 

We believe that young writers should be en- 
couraged. Try them, you who need such assist- 
ance, and see what they can do. You who have 
it in your power to accept or reject the work of 
those who are making their first efforts, do all you 
can to aid them. Give them an opportunity to 
test their powers, and they will soon prove 
whether there is any earnestness as well as talent 
in them. 

It is not true that the deepest and most pro- 
found subjects and works are always the most 
interesting to the mass of people. There are a 
few who always appreciate such things, but the 
majority do not care for them, on account of their 
being beyond that grade of writing suited to their 
taste. Then, the taste in all is not just the same, 
so that what you may write will not please one 
class of persons, while it will just fill the wants of 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 20I 

another class. No matter how well you write, or 
what you write, you will fail to please all, so re- 
nounce forever the idea, if you have entertained it, 
of pleasing all. 

Follow out your own taste in this work, and 
write always with care. Clothe your thoughts in 
language which can be easily understood by the 
public generally. If you are a married woman, 
with many lonely and dreary hours at home, and 
have a taste for writing, — why, write ! for it will 
bring you much peace and contentment. Should 
your labors never be given to the public, it matters 
not : you have been made happy, many hours, in 
your work, and, years after you have been laid away, 
the secret of how you brought joy into your own 
heart may be discovered in the old and yellowed 
manuscripts. 

You who take up the work as a matter of neces- 
sity, enter upon the field with all the zeal and con- 
fidence you have, for all will be needed to secure 
success. To all, then, who have any inclination, 
let us say, write ! Form the habit of writing, for 
it will relieve many hours of your life of their 
monotony, and, at the same time, you may do 
much good. Your mind, too, will be disciplined 



202 - ^^ IT SHOULD BE. 

by so doing, and you will be enabled to think 
upon any subject with greater facility. 

Do not be afraid of the ridicule which you may 
meet, for that would prove you a coward. While 
others are engaged in gossip and scandal, ruining 
and blackening forever the characters and good 
names of their neighbors, you can close your lips 
to such things by engaging in your writing. It will 
be far more beneficial to you, even should you 
consign your work to the flames the very next 
day, than to sit down and join your voice with the 
mischief-makers. 

We have told you to write, if such was your 
desire ; but now we go a step further, and say, 
when you have completed your work try to find 
a publisher, and if he will print your work for you 
have him do so. When finished, it may not rank 
with the first-class literature of the day, but it may 
bring peace and comfort, or even a few hours of 
pleasure, to some weary heart. Write in your own 
peculiar style, endeavoring to imitate no one, for 
your own manner of expression may make your 
works popular. Express your own views frankly, 
honestly, and simply, so that they shall not have 
the appearance of having required much labor in 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 203 

bringing" them to light. Your ideas may not be 
entirely original with yourself, but in order to give 
expression to them in your own language you 
must have mastered them. An old and familiar 
thought may often be expressed so as to show its 
meaning in a new light, and thus you may express 
an idea, more or less familiar, in a way never before 
thought of 

As we have said before, the life of the author is 
one of struggling and many disappointments, and 
if you would rank yourself as such you must toil 
diligently and faithfully with your work, and still 
continue your efforts when you set out in search 
of a publisher. 

• The first one you apply to will not be likely to 
accept your work, because you are unknown to the 
literary world, and, without his even glancing at 
the manuscript, you will be turned away. The 
next one may glance at it, but will return it with 
the suggestion that it does not warrant their un- 
dertaking its publication. 

By this time you will think you were very fool- 
ish in making this last effort; but persevere, for 
you may be obliged to spend hours, perhaps days, 
and even weeks, before you will secure one will- 



204 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



ing to do your work for you, because you are a 
stranger to the reading world. 

After your first book is published you have not 
so much to fear, for it will serve as an introduc- 
tion to the public. 

The end of your trials does not come with the 
publishing of the book, for you will then have to 
endure the scathing fire of criticism, and men will 
have no mercy, — not so much for you as they 
would for one of their own sex, for they are still 
prejudiced against female writers. For every step 
of progress or advancement you make, you must 
wage a bold warfare. You will be obliged to 
contend and battle for every inch of ground over 
which you may pass. Men have not been just 
and generous in their criticisms of the books 
which have been written by women, and they will 
not be more lenient toward you than they have 
been with others. Under the garb of flattery, they 
will conceal the most cruel and bitter sarcasm. 

This need not frighten you, for you are rivaling 
them, many of them, in the position which they 
have gained. You know there are but few men 
who lead in writing, so we cannot expect all 
women who write to take the lead. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



205 



After reading this, which is only the truth in 
the matter, do you shrink from undertaking the 
work with its attendant trials ? If you do, — if you 
hesitate to meet the foe boldly, — then give up the 
idea of success at once. Would that some word 
of ours might encourage and inspire you to take 
up your work, doubting one ! Gladly would we 
reach out our hand to aid you if it were in our 
power. But if you are afraid that you cannot 
succeed as a writer, take up some other work which 
pleases you, and set out upon your task at once, 
remembering that, no matter what you decide upon, 
some one has traveled in the way you would go, 
before you. The path has been cleared of many 
of its rough places and stumbling-stones, by those 
who have toiled over the same way. You can be 
successful if you- will only fit yourself for your 
work, and then labor with patience for its accom- 
plishment. Do not think that success means 
gaining the mountain-top height in whatever you 
undertake. 

Success is secured when we complete that work 
which our talents fit us for, whatever it may be, 
whether great or small. 

But few mount to the highest pinnacle of fame, 
18* 



2o6 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

while thousands and thousands toil and labor with 
happy hearts in the valley. 

It matters not what your work may be, if it is 
the work God designed for you; only do your 
best to fulfill your mission. Be a heroine in what- 
ever position you occupy, and you will not fail to 
gain the laurel wreath. 

There are women to-day, who, purified by bitter 
scourgings and fearful agony, have attained a 
standard high among women. Their faces at 
one time were all joy, and their eyes were ever 
filled with laughter; but now, subdued and 
chastened, their lives are a glorious record of 
charity, sympathy, and love for earth's sorrow- 
ing ones. 

Such women prove to us what can be done ; 
and when we see those whose lives are given up to 
fashion, and the seeking after those things which 
will never satisfy their better nature, our hearts 
are filled with remorse and sorrow. And is it not 
enough to occasion sorrow to see a woman sacri- 
ficing all that is noble in her upon the altar of 
idleness and folly ? Something is needed to star- 
tle such women from their apparent slumber, and 
we would do much, if we could induce them to 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 20/ 

cast aside everything that interferes between them 
and a true woman's life, and rise to that standard 
which men cannot fail to respect, and in time will 
be led to admire. We cannot perform this work 
for them if we would ; neither can we take up the 
task God assigned them. We have our own work 
to do, and, if we cannot arouse the female world 
from its lethargy, we can guard against the ap- 
proach of the enemy upon our own hearts. If you 
will to work, you can find enough to do on every 
hand. Do not expect that an opportunity will 
come w^hich, if improved, will make you great in 
a moment. If you are looking for something of 
this kind, do not imagine in your own heart that 
there is nothing for you to do, if such an oppor- 
tunity does not come. It is well to have ambition, 
but do not waste all your life in great expectations, 
while you neglect the little things of life. 

When you are inclined to question yourself as 
to what and where your life-w^ork is, and when 
you shall enter upon it, answer yourself with these 
two words : " Here and now," and then do what- 
ever you find to do in compliance with the sug- 
gestion of your answer. Do .whatever you find 
to do just where you are, and at this very time, 



208 -4S IT SHOULD BE. 

with all your might, feeling that it is just the work 
you ought to do. There are broken hearts to be 
bound up ; the hungry to be fed ; the naked to be 
clothed ; the thirsty one to be refreshed with a cup of 
cold water ; the fallen one to be raised ; the hand of 
oppression to be removed from the down-trodden ; 
and all are to be pointed to the great "I Am." 
You can perfect yourself in the Christian graces, 
and make yourself a strong, self-reliant woman ; 
while at the same time you can work out your 
own destined mission, if you will engage in the 
work, which must result in good. Discipline 
yourself in subjects for thought, for right thoughts 
will prompt right actions, and uprightness in all 
your dealings will soon characterize your nature. 

We believe woman can be whatever she wills 
to be, and for this reason we regard the forming 
of noble purposes necessary to the right controll- 
ing of her life. Oh, women, you who are already 
walking in these paths of toil and labor, walk 
grandly as becometh you ! Remember that the 
whole human family are looking upon you as the 
representative of what females have the power of 
becoming. Walk straight forward with your eye 
fixed upward upon Him, that you may have the 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



209 



reflection of His glorious self and attributes in 
your hearts. Walk, too, with a steady tread, with- 
out stumbling or falling out by the way, for your 
pure lives of goodness and greatness are needed 
by every living soul here on earth, and the angels 
will long for your society on the other side. If 
others are dependent upon you for comfort and 
joy, Oh, give them that which they look for in a 
liberal measure ! Let love be manifested in every 
action, until people shall know without a doubt 
that you have an abiding Christ with you ! Let 
the Christian graces so adorn your life that you 
shall win for woman a name which shall ever in- 
spire reverence ! and at last you will hear the 
words, "Well done." 

Just a word to those who may marry, and thus 
become shielded from the storms of life and the 
necessity of engaging in any particular occupation 
aside from their home-work to a certain extent. 

First, let us say, never marry a man unless you 
love him better than any earthly friend. 

Do you ask how you are to know whether such 
is the case or not? Allow us to reply to your 
question by making some queries. Are you will- 
ing to relinquish all for his sake, and go anywhere 



210 ^'S IT SHOULD BE. 

with him as his wife ? Does your heart throb and 
quicken in its pulsations at his approach ? Docs 
his smile bring you joy? Are you perfectly satis- 
fied and contented in his presence ? Can you 
answer yes to all these questions ? If not, do not 
risk the happiness of both by marrying a man you 
do not love better than your own life. Do not 
think that a preference on your part or that heart- 
throbs are love, so long as you are filled with mis- 
givings and doubts. Do not rest with such weak 
feelings. And if no stronger affection can be en- 
gendered, then be satisfied that the man in question 
is not the one with whom you can be happy. Have 
no motive in marrying but true and unselfish love. 
Do not marry a man with vices and bad habits, 
thinking you can reform him after marriage ; for 
you will be almost certain to fail in your plan. If 
a man does not love a woman sufficiently well 
to break off from his evil ways before marriage, 
knowing that a woman's love depends upon the 
act, he will never do the same after she has become 
his wife, and there is nothing at stake. Do not 
allow the hope that you may do good after you 
are joined in wedlock allure you into a contract, 
which, unless it be hallowed by love, is indeed a 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 211 

misery to endure. Never marry for a home, think- 
ing that happiness consists to a great extent in the 
having of a home. If, at the price of yourself, you 
gain this kixury, you have paid dear for your 
article ; and to seek for happiness in such a place, 
and under such circumstances, will be like pur- 
suing the most uncertain of shadows. 

Half of the women go to the altar without know- 
ing just what their heart-feelings are. They are 
not positive beyond a doubt that they love the man 
who is soon to become the husband, and they think 
it makes but little difference, especially if the man 
be one of wealth or titled. But it makes a vast 
difference, and their whole after-lives will be ample 
time for them to realize the fact fully. 

Girls, we beg of you to cast aside every induce- 
ment to marry save love, and then allow nothing 
to influence you in your acceptance or rejection of 
a lover but sincere, honest affection. The world is 
brimful of misery and sorrow, and much of it arises 
from this cause. Never marry rather than to make 
for yourself a home of unhappiness. But if you 
love earnestly, devotedly, and sincerely, then you 
may know that, whatever comes, you married a 
man whom you loved with all the power of your 



212 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

woman's heart. Never allow the question of ex- 
pediency of a marriage with this or that one — the 
advantage of the position you might thus obtain — 
to influence you in your choice; for when such 
questions present themselves, you may know 
that there is not the love in your heart that 
should be. 

Should you marry and awake to the fact that 
the idol you had made to yourself is nothing but 
clay, be not overwhelmed and discouraged; for 
thousands of women have made the same dis- 
covery. You will not be alone in the bitterness 
of your heart ; and, though your life may be dark- 
ened and blighted, you will live on with others. 
Do well your part, and, although your heart may 
often long for the caresses which were yours in 
days gone by, do not allow the want of them to 
make you faint-hearted. Look up to Him who 
has promised to be your help and stay in every 
time of need, and His love will fill your whole 
heart to overflowing. 

This is a blessed privilege we all have; and 
when we are brought to realize that the human 
love which we had thought to be ours is only a 
bitter, scandalous mockery, we can fall back upon 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 213 

the unbounded storehouse of God's infinite love, 
and have every nook and corner of our souls filled, 
and it will bring to us the satisfaction which earthly 
affection can never give. 



19 



Now we have reached a class of females who 
are not fitted or capable to take up the work to 
which allusion has been made. Their education 
has been limited, and for this reason they are com- 
pelled to take upon themselves labor which is 
really servile in its nature. As we scan the present 
condition of this class of females, we cannot satisfy 
ourselves by turning away from them, saying, 
" They are well enough as they are !" when, indeed, 
they are the very ones who need their condition 
elevated. Look over our large cities, — one will 
suffice, for it will tell the story of all,— and you can 
but be surprised at the vast amount of suffering 
which will meet you on every hand. We read 
often of the injustice which is meted out to these 
toiling ones ; but we can know nothing of the real 
truth of the matter until we investigate for our- 
selves. 

There seems to be something about a city which 
almost infatuates the working people, both male 
and female, with its apparent attractions. It may 
214 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



215 



be they think that in a large city there must be a 
great deal to do, and that they will be better able 
to satisfy themselves in the selection of some 
employment, on account of the variety of occu- 
pations presented ; forgetting that in such a place 
there must be a great many persons to perform all 
this labor. 

Their little store of money is expended in reach- 
ing the metropolis ; imagining, that when this 
goal is once gained, wealth will drop into their 
grasp. 

After whole days have been spent in search of 
employment, the reality of their situation is forced 
upon them. Homeless, penniless, and almost dis- 
tracted, they find themselves face to face with 
starvation. Men are not often brought so low as 
this ; for, if they are really anxious to obtain work, 
they can find something to do ; but the avenues 
through which a woman must gain her living are 
limited in number. Public opinion, and the en- 
croachments which men have made upon that 
which is in truth woman's work, are rapidly de- 
priving her of the few means of sustenance which 
are left. 

If, however, a woman succeeds in obtaining work, 



2i6 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

what kind of living does it provide her with ? Go 
with us to the city of New York, if you please, and 
there behold for yourself the facts which go to 
make up the sad picture of human suffering. Sad, 
indeed, is the sight ! but it is such only to those 
whose hearts are filled with true Christian charity, 
and whose fine sensibilities are shocked at the 
tyranny of those who are the means of untold 
agony. Heartless, heedless, and careless, they 
have no object in view but the filling of their own 
coffers. Though they be filled at the price of 
human souls, it matters not. 

Do you ask why there are so many fallen 
women ? Because there are so many men whom 
Satan has made so much like himself that they are 
fiends incarnate. Who have forced many of these 
women into a life of shame ? For every woman 
who has thus sacrificed her true womanhood, there 
is a man whose devilish, sinister purposes have 
wrought her ruin ; while there are ten others who 
only regret that they were not in the villain's place. 
Who support, encourage, and sanction houses of 
prostitution ? Who frequent these places ? Men, 
yes, men. Ah ! better close your lips in everlast- 
ing silence, than breathe a word of denunciation 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



217 



against those whom you yourself have aided to 
their present hfe of degradation. Point not the 
finger of scorn at her, for you know you are gen- 
erally proud of your own work, and, but for you, 
she would have been an ornament in society. She 
was pure and good when you first saw her, but 
you ruined her body and soul ; and you have the 
comforting assurance that you will be held respon- 
sible for what she might have been, when you 
stand before the bar of Heaven. Talk not to us of 
fallen women as having accepted their present life 
of their own choice, for the statement is false of the 
majority of them. How do we know? Go and 
talk with them ; ask them of their early life, the 
means of their fall, as we have done, and you will 
know why we thus boldly assert the truth. God 
knows there is nothing so bad, so disgusting, as a 
woman of this description ; and the reason of this 
is, when she falls, she falls from a higher altitude 
than man. Her present disgrace is on every 
tongue, while never a thought is given to what she 
once was, nor a question asked as to how she came 
so low. But how is it with the one who should be 
censured? Do you point the finger of scorn at 

him, and pass him by unnoticed ? Ah ! no ; the 

19* 



2i8 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

treatment which he receives at your hands is such 
as to make the sin wrought a commendable act. 
It may be true that there are individual cases 
where a life of ignominy is entered upon volun- 
tarily ; but even in such instances there was a first 
error, and that step was taken at man's suggestions. 
There was a time when the first contaminating 
influence was felt, and who shall be held respon- 
sible for that first wrong? Oh, how we should 
guard our conversation ! See to it, every one who 
may read these words, that your conversation in 
private be as pure in its nature as you endeavor 
to have it in public. Women, when you meet 
together, think it beneath your true dignity to join 
in any conversation upon any subject which would 
bring the blush to your cheek should the outside 
world stand listening. 

We have digressed from our subject, however; 
but we will return now, taking you with us, dear 
reader. 

Allow us to cite one or two instances of woman's 
employment in the city referred to, and the amount 
of money received as remuneration for her services. 

Two young girls, left homeless at the death of 
their parents, found their way to New York, and 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



219 



succeeded in obtaining employment in one of those 
down-town shops where pantaloons are made. It 
was with no little difficulty that they secured this 
work ; and when they entered upon the task, it 
was with the understanding that they were to 
receive twenty-five cents for each pair made, which 
was the prescribed compensation for the like work. 
Being quite expert with the needle, they hoped to 
earn an honest living in this way ; but what was 
their disappointment at the close of the first day to 
find that, after having toiled from early morn until 
the darkness of night closed in upon them, they 
had completed only two pairs. They toiled with 
zeal and diligence, and yet only twelve pairs were 
completed at the end of the week. 

Wishing to be respectable, they had obtained 
board in a respectable family, at the very lowest 
price, which was four dollars per week. How 
think you they were to pay their board, to say 
nothing of clothing themselves, when three dollars 
was all they could earn weekly ? To earn even this 
amount, every hour in the day must be occupied 
in toiling ; and when they were freed at night, they 
were too thoroughly exhausted to think of aught 
save the gaining of the rest they so much needed. 



220 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

There was no time, or inclination either, for the 
improvement of the mind ; no, nothing but work, 
work, work, without a single bright pleasure to 
relieve the monotony and dreariness of their lives. 
Finding they could not remain where they were 
boarding, on account of the price, they were forced 
to seek less respectable quarters ; and though they 
were in every respect far above those with whom 
they were brought in contact, still they were classed 
with them by observers, and considered as among 
them. Here they were forced to struggle to keep 
the wolf from the door, and were finally induced to 
go out into the country in the capacity of house- 
servants, where they are now respectable women. 

In some establishments only twenty cents a pair 
is paid for making lined jeans pantaloons, and those 
who are acquainted with the amount of work 
necessary to earn this trifle will be surprised at its 
meagreness. 

Another lady is engaged in making vests for a 
large wholesale house, and receives eighteen cents 
for each one made when the work is completed. 
Working fourteen hours each day, the Sabbath 
included, and laboring with all her might, she can 
realize from her efforts only eight dollars per 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 221 

month. Her home is in an attic, for which she 
pays three dollars rent monthly, and her two little 
children are there, whom she is obliged to support. 
In ten months she has eaten meat once only, and 
then it was the gift of a charitable friend on 
Thanksgiving Day. Does her task seem an easy 
one ? Think you there ought not to be a reform 
in regard to the price paid for her labor ? 

A woman engaged in finishing fine shirts, earns 
on an average two dollars each week. Her aged 
grandmother is with her in her little room ; and 
often has this brave Avorking-woman subsisted on 
bread and water for wrecks, in order that her feeble 
relative might have the luxury of a little broth 
daily. Does not the noble, self-sacrificing spirit 
manifested in this instance teach us a lesson which, 
if heeded, would result in our aiding these very 
suffering ones? And we might continue citing 
cases to you, but we think it unnecessary ; for the 
idea of the inadequacy of the compensation woman 
receives for her toil is fully set forth. 

The instances to which we have alluded are not 
the most aggravated, by any means. Thousands 
are in a condition similar to these we have men- 
tioned ; and there are thousands who are infinitely 



222 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

more entitled to our sympathy than even these. 
We might go on enumerating the wrongs and 
sufferings of woman, but their history is too well 
known to require a repetition here ; but we are not 
to regard what we hear and know of them as an 
exaggerated story of their condition. This is not 
true. Their true case has never been presented 
before the world as it should be ; for the moneyed 
men who cause so much misery by their unwilling- 
ness to pay a reasonable price for labor performed 
have, by their money, controlled the outcry and 
closed the mouths of those who should have risen 
up boldly in opposition to their injustice. Money 
they have made, and money they will gain, even 
though human lives be crushed under the power 
of their tyranny. Women have become interested 
in this subject now, and in time we hope to know 
the truth just as it is. 

A. T. Stewart, in the greatness of his philan- 
thropy and benevolence, has commenced a work 
which we trust will aid many a toiling woman. 
The home which he is providing for them on such 
a magnificent scale, where they will receive the 
comforts of a home-life at just about what these 
comforts cost, will afford a refuge for hundreds. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



223 



We most earnestly pray that this man may be per- 
mitted to consummate his plans, and live to see 
much good accruing from his work. 

Would that we might take every one by the 
hand whose life has been marred by lives of care 
and sin, and point them out the right path ! Oh 
that we could encourage and strengthen them ! 
inducing them to seek Him who is the source of 
all comfort and strength. 

How, then, is this class of individuals to be bene- 
fited, who have been grievously imposed upon ; 
and how shall they obtain individual redress ? 
There is no means by which immediate relief may 
be secured. If the only way by which assistance 
may be gained lies in the ballot, years — many 
years — must pass before this right will be granted 
woman; while there is a possibility and a fair 
prospect that she will never receive the privilege 
in reply to her present demands. If the remedy 
is to be found in the present mode of legislation, 
time will be required to influence men to take 
active measures for woman's advancement. If we 
must wait until a moral reformation is accom- 
plished, centuries may be occupied in the perform- 
ance of this work. 



224 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



The evils to which toiling women are subjected 
are of such a nature as to demand attention at 
once, and it is evident to all that the speediest 
way of aiding them is through our present legisla- 
tion. Instead of demanding the ballot of men, 
that you may act for yourself, present to them a 
correct statement of your wrongs, and petition 
them to aid and defend you. There are noble men 
enough in the world to do this work, and they will 
do it when you impress upon them the urgency of 
your case. Ask them to regulate by law the price 
of labor, and then see that the law is enforced to 
the letter, that injustice may be done away with. 
Ask them to allow you a fair renumeration for 
your toil, and, when y^ou perform any task the 
same in character and equal in volume to that 
performed by man, that your salary be equal to 
that paid man. 

We need legislation that will rule out and drive 
out those who have so long wrought sorrow to 
the poor, by taking advantage of their necessity 
and offering them work at prices which cannot 
keep the spark of life alive within them. Let us 
have a law, then, that shall regulate the price of 
labor, rewarding it liberally; and by so doing 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 225 

allow woman an opportunity of providing herself 
with the necessaries of life, at least, and allow her 
equal pay with man when she performs the same 
work. 

Think of a woman accomplishing the same work 
in a day that a man performs, and receiving only 
about one-half the pay that man receives, when 
the toil on her part requires double the exertion 
put forth by him of the sterner sex on account of 
her very nature ! 

When we take this thought into consideration, 
we are convinced that women should be more 
liberally rewarded than man for the same work 
performed; for she, in truth, performs twice as 
much work. Do you accept this idea ? Just pause 
a moment and look at the subject candidly. If a 
woman performs an equal amount of labor to that 
which is required of man, and of the same kind, 
but for the performance of this task double the 
effort is needed on her part that man is required to 
use, the double exertion is equal to twice the 
amount of work performed with the same effort 
which man puts forth. If woman only receives 
about one-half the pay man receives, then accord- 
ing to the true state of things she receives the 



226 -4S IT SHOULD BE. 

same salary a man receives for about four times 
the amount of work which he performs. Is this 
just as it should be, think you ? Should she not 
receive the same reward for her labors that man 
receives ? and, taking her nature and temperament 
into consideration, she would be doing double 
work, then, for the same pay. 

We ask you who are interested in this subject 
at all, to make investigations for yourselves. Go 
and converse with the laboring women, and they 
will tell you of their own condition far more 
effectually than we can, and, when you have done 
so, we shall be disappointed if you are not willing 
to admit that you were surprised at their con- 
dition. 

The small pay a woman can earn has often 
driven her from her comfortable room, or board- 
ing-house, to something less respectable, on ac- 
count of its being correspondingly less expensive. 
She is then thrown into the society of vulgar 
minds ; and little by little, perhaps, she becomes 
more like them. The work is so gradual that she 
scarce realizes the change, and yet her steps have 
been downward ; and at last she enters upon a life 
of shame at the suggestion and through the influ- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



227 



encc of one who had watched her every step, 
longing for an opportunity of seizing upon his 
prey. She has no money to buy clothes sufficient 
to keep herself cleanly, nothing with which to 
satisfy her hunger ; no one seems to care for her ; 
and in an unguarded moment, when starvation has 
made her cheeks thin, hollow, and haggard, her 
eyes large and bright, she yields to Satanic influ- 
ences and becomes a v/reck, but not a hopeless 
one we trust. We are generally disposed to think 
harshly and unkindly of such women, forgetting 
the comm^and to '' Do unto others even as ye 
would that others should do unto you," and that 
Christian charity is strictly imposed upon us. We 
avoid them on the street, and, when we meet, there 
is a shrinking within us ; and, in the words of an 
unfortunate one, we " take a wide sweep lest they 
come too nigh," as though we feared contamina- 
tion from coming in contact with them. This 
is not right; and who knows but many wom.en 
have continued in their life of shame, which 
they would have gladly left at one time? but 
our treatment of them was so cruelly unkind, 
that they thought it was of no use to attempt to 
reform themselves. 



228 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

One woman remarked to us that she was wiUing 
to aid any woman of this character if she would 
only manifest some inclination to reform ; and yet 
this very woman's actions on the street, the undis- 
guised aversion, and the means to which she would 
resort to avoid meeting a fallen woman, destroyed 
forever the power of her words which she had 
previously uttered. It is not enough that we are 
willing to aid them when they manifest a desire to 
lead a different life; but we must endeavor to 
inspire in them a longing to forsake this sinful 
course. We must make them feel that we are 
interested in them; and, when this is done, if there 
is a spark of the true woman left, they will hasten 
to avail themselves of our assistance. 

We do not mean by this that you must associate 
with them where they now are, and the best direc- 
tion we can give by which you shall regulate your 
actions is this : Ask yourself how you would have 
people treat you if you were in their position, and 
then follow out the suggestions of your own con- 
science. Ask yourself what your feelings would 
be if you were striving to give up a life of wrong- 
doing, and should receive only looks of scorn and 
contempt for your encouragement. Have you 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 229 

any idea what the fecHngs of such an one so treated 
must be ? Do you know of the suffering she has 
endured? Have you found your way into her 
confidence, and has she allowed you to look in 
upon the secret of her hidden life that you might 
behold for yourself the agony which has been 
hers ? Has her heart been laid open to you in 
confidence, so that you might know how cruelly 
she has been dealt with ? If such has not been 
the case, then place your hand upon your mouth 
to aid you in preserving silence, lest you utter 
words of judgment which may be returned to you 
some day as having been pronounced upon you. 
If you know nothing of the lives of these women, 
then keep silent upon a subject of which you are 
entirely ignorant. Remember that for every word 
uttered you shall be held responsible, and what- 
ever ye do unto the least one of these, ye do 
unto Christ himself He is the one who can 
best judge these women, for he knoweth them 
altogether. You are but human, and had your 
circumstances in life been the same as theirs, you 
might have fallen even lower than they. 

We are too apt to think that if these prostitutes 
are disposed to return to a virtuous life, there are 



230 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



those who are ever ready and willing to aid and 
assist them in gaining an honest living. Such is 
not the truth of the matter, for even those who 
express a desire to do good and encourage them, 
shirk their duty often, when the test is brought to 
their very door. Show us one woman who is 
willing, when application has been made to her for 
work, to take her into her family as a servant, and 
will strive to aid her in keeping her feet in the 
right way, and we will show you fifty, who, in 
a like instance, would have turned the applicant 
from their doors with contempt. It is an easy 
matter to talk ; but action in such cases, when 
called for, tells the truth. We can tell what 
we would do under certain circumstances ; but 
this is not what is needed. The question is, 
What are you doing now under present circum- 
stances? "But," says one, "if we were to follow 
out your plan, we think we would be encouraging 
the evil." 

There is a vast difference, friend, in laboring in 
a way that will destroy sin, and in a way that 
will only advance the sin you would break down. 
When you treat these women with the true spirit 
of Christian charity, there can be no mistaking 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 23 1 

your motives, for, with your efforts to aid them, 
they will perceive your entire disapproval of the 
life they are living. The zeal of a true Christian 
heart cannot be mistaken, and such are the hearts 
we need to work. 

Scientific improvements and inventions have so 
supplied the place of female labor that there is but 
little that the laboring class of women can do, and 
the first thing necessary to prevent so many lives 
of prostitution is an increase of pay among the 
toiling women. We must look at this matter 
just as it is ; and if we do this, we cannot fail to 
perceive that if woman received a sufficient reward 
for her work, the number of outcasts would be 
greatly diminished. When we examine the market 
price of ready-made clothing, we are convinced 
beyond a doubt that the manufacturer pockets 
profits which rightfully belong to the laborers. 
The profit in this business is great, and those who 
sew for them, or work for them in any capacity, 
might be rewarded more liberally and in a more 
reasonable manner, compared with what they now 
receive, and still leave an immense income for those 
who control and own the business. We ask jus- 
tice and nothing more, and, when this indeed be- 



232 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

comes the law of the land, there will be less crime 
and wrong everywhere. 

We are all perfectly content that our friends 
should be just, yes, even generous, with us, judg- 
ing of our motives and thoughts rather than our 
actions and words ; but are we always disposed to 
treat our friends with the same consideration? 
We are all delighted to receive those things which 
are good ; but are we equally pleased and ready, 
too, to give the same that we have received ? 

As we have said before, the only hope for speedy 
aid for the women lies in the present mode of legis- 
lation ; and such being the case, it behooves us all 
to use our influence for the desired advancement. 
Talk with those men whom you know to be 
friendly to your interests, and ask of them their 
assistance rather than the ballot. 

Those who ask for this right now will never 
live to realize any of its " peculiar advantages," 
for if any good can ever arise from this privilege 
in the hands of woman, years, long years, will 
pass before any evidence of the fact will appear, 
and there is a possibility that no such proof will 
ever be received. You who clamor for this power 
to vote so incessantly now, can never be benefited 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 233 

by it in the least ; and, instead of leaving suffrage 
as a blessing to your daughters, it may rest upon 
their shoulders as a curse. Let us get our hearts 
filled with a desire to do all the good we can in 
the right way, and all will be well. 



•VII- 

"Why do not laboring women go out doing 
housework," asks one, " rather than work for such 
a mere pittance ? The demand for good help is 
great, and the best of wages will be paid." 

Why, because the position of a servant is no 
place to be desired at the present time. For this 
reason only the most ignorant and inexperienced 
persons can be induced to go into families to do 
the housework. From almost every one who em- 
ploys help comes the cry of incompetent, thieving 
servants, and such being the case, there must be 
some cause for this condition of affairs. 

Now, it would be well for each woman to ex- 
amine this subject with us, that we may ascertain, 
if possible, the true cause of this evil. We shall 
make some bold assertions, but shall endeavor to 
govern our words by the truth ; and every house- 
keeper can, if she is so disposed, assent to the 
authenticity of every statement we may make 
after having read our words. 
234 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



235 



The first assertion we shall make is this : women 
are to blame themselves for their bad help. Do 
not turn away with a sneer, as though you thought 
such a thing impossible, but wait until you have 
heard how you are to blame. You have been so 
fretful and overbearing in your ways, or have had 
such a thorough disregard of your servants' feel- 
ings, that you have deliberately driven from your 
homes American girls who, in days past, were 
accustomed to do your work for you, and were far 
more contented, and gave better satisfaction to you, 
than any foreign-born help. You became rather 
dissatisfied with them and the wages paid; you 
thought them too independent; you did not feel 
quite at liberty to make the slaves of them you 
wished, so they must go. You thought imported 
help — Irish, German, Swede, or Chinese — would 
suit you far better, and would work for you for 
less money than those you had employed. So you 
began what you might call a series of experiments, 
in what you thought would be a success, and failure 
has been the one distinguishing feature of your 
efforts. You may have secured those who can 
work for you, but you have little or no confidence 
in them. 



> 



236 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

Any person who has a usual amount of spirit 
had rather, ten times over, work in some kind of a 
shop for ahiiost nothing, and strive with every 
power to keep up a comparatively good position 
in society, than subject herself to the life of a 
kitchen slave, although she might receive better 
wages and good board. Her life then would be 
made up of acts and duties of the most menial 
character, while on the street she would be passed 
by without even being noticed : " She is nothing, — 
nobody ; only the hired girl, that is all." 

It is well that there should be a proper distance 
kept between housekeepers and their servants, but 
the trouble is that the distance between them has 
been made too great. If the mistress would now 
and then forget the social distinctions which exist 
as a barrier between herself and those whom she 
employs to assist her in her work, it would be 
better for both mistress and servants. Those to 
whom you pay twelve dollars a month in addition 
to their board are not mere brutes. No, indeed, 
they are women. " I know that," say you ? If 
such be true, there have been times when your 
actions indicated a belief to the contrary, and that 
you looketl upon them as wholly devoid of feeling. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 237 

But listen ! They arc capable of loving as fondly 
as you, of suffering as intensely as you ; they are 
as sensitive in their natures as you, and an unkind 
word grieves and pains just as sorely. You have 
had greater blessings and advantages than they, 
which is all that makes your positions different. 
In spite of all your advancement and refinement, 
your servant-girls often teach you lessons which it 
would be well for you to remember. 

You, who preside as the mistress of some grand 
establishment, imagine yourself in some foreign 
land, widely separated from your own home and 
friends, and in this strange land employed in caring 
for the physical wants of those about you, who 
are all strangers to you. For this work you re- 
ceive a sum of money so meagre that you can 
scarcely keep yourself in a decent Sunday garb, 
after laying up a few cents for a rainy day. To do 
even this you must follow the regular treadmill 
course of your everyday life; looking for no 
change, for nothing of the kind has been promised 
you. If you succeed where you are, and secure 
even the things which we have spoken of, you 
must pursue your course in the regular way which 
you have taken upon yourself 



238 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 



If such was your condition, think you a friendly 
word now and then from your mistress would not 
cheer your lonely existence ? Would it not be 
pleasant to have her sufficiently interested in you 
and your welfare as to make inquiries in regard to 
your friends and your home ? If she should bring 
an illustrated paper to you, with the injunction to 
amuse yourself with it during your leisure hours, 
and at the same time get some idea of what was 
going on in the outside world, would not the act 
inspire a feeling of respect, if nothing more ? 

Ah, yes ; you who are ladies take these words 
home to yourself, and let me tell you that you lose 
nothing, you even risk nothing, in performing 
these little kind offices, but in return you will gain 
everything. 

These simple acts would require but little exer- 
tion, but they would result in a vast amount of 
good. You need not fear that your servants will 
impose upon your kindness and apparent famil- 
iarity ; for your grace and womanly tact will pre- 
serve your station inviolate. You need have no 
fears in this respect. More than this, you must 
not assert self, and make them feel who you are 
with each act, for then you do not gain their vol- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



239 



uiitary respect. Forget that you are mistress, for 
the time being, and treat them as friends, for what- 
ever their feehngs toward you may be, they will 
be the result of your compulsion. Make homes 
for these " girls" in your families, and then there 
will be less talk of places. 

We have often noticed this word "place" as 
being used by those in search of a situation, and 
could not but feel that this was the right word to 
use ; for where most of them are engaged in house- 
work, the place where such girls are employed is 
simply a place where they stay, but nothing that 
warrants any home-like feeling. 

Consider it obligatory upon you, then, to interest 
yourselves In them and their welfare, and treat 
them so that they shall feel that you are their best 
and wisest friend. If you understand human 
nature, you can soon find the way to their hearts, 
and when this is accomplished you can have all 
your own way. 

You often make mistakes, and so will they ; but 
see to it that you do not chide them too harshly. 
You are not perfect yourselves, nor can you find 
one In the wide world that is so, or any relation in 
which perfection exists ; and would It be right and 



240 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



just to demand perfection in your servants? You 
must remember that you are dependent upon them, 
as well as they dependent upon you. Let them 
feel by your actions that you consider your rela- 
tion to each other one of reciprocal duties, and 
that while they shall serve you faithfully and earn- 
estly, you will use your intelligence, judgment, 
and experience in their behalf " How can we do 
this ?" do you ask ? By being thoughtful of their 
welfare, both in labor and pleasure, their income 
and their expenditures. 

All this can be brought about without any de- 
parture from your usual routine of life, and it can- 
not fail to bring a rich harvest of peace throughout 
your home. Do not spend so much time in 
attempting to adapt yourself to the peculiarities of 
the different nationalities, but treat human beings 
humanely, and you will need no prescribed form of 
government for the controlling of your help. The 
complaint which we now have will be gradually 
weakened in volume, and ere long its sound will 
be entirely lost in the distance. 

We may talk of women being independent, and 
the necessity of her casting public opinion aside, 
that she may enter upon housework as a means of 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 241 

obtaining her living, and there is much truth in the 
statement ; but we need the position of the servant 
made less menial in its character before we can 
expect much of a change. When you ladies make 
your homes attractive to those who would gladly 
earn an honest living, you will find plenty of 
honest, capable women anxious to avail themselves 
of your offers. Why are you so inclined to look 
down upon your help ? Did you ever think what 
you would do without them ? Did you ever pause, 
with harsh, cold words upon your lips unuttered, 
to think that she upon whom you were about to 
vent your anger was a woman, and that her soul 
was just as precious in the sight of God as your 
own ? Yea, and perhaps more so ; for it may 
render to him due reverence, which you do not. 
Do you look down upon them because they do 
your work and obey your orders ? Suppose For- 
tune had been less favorable to you, and you had 
not the means to employ servants, but were com- 
pelled to do your own work, could you make of 
yourself two separate individuals, so that the one 
might look upon the other with the same feelings 
with which you now look upon those who do your 
work ? You would then be obliged to do yourself 

2r=<- 



242 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



just what your help does for you now. When you 
despise, why not despise yourself for doing the 
same ? You have treated your servants with too 
little humanity, to say nothing of kindness ; you 
have by your voice and actions made them con- 
temptible in the sight of the public, and need you 
wonder, then, that poor girls with a natural amount 
of pride will not subject themselves to your in- 
sults ? No, indeed, even though it may be a dis- 
advantage to seek work elsewhere. 

And now, to those who have wrought this evil 
belongs the right to make some redress, and to do 
this they must treat their servants better. There 
is not a particle of need of this continually being 
unable to keep a girl more than a week, and during 
this week unwilling to trust your " new hand" out 
of your sight for a moment. You might have good 
help, and respectable help, just as well as not; but 
it is for you to say whether you will avail yourself 
of this privilege or not. 

A word to those now who toil in our cities for a 
reward scarce sufficient to keep them alive. The 
first step we would advise you to take, if you are 
not robust and strong, is to make a fixed and un- 
changeable resolution that you will take those 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



243 



steps and do those things which shall be for your 
own best good, in spite of public opinion and your 
own pride. Then leave the city with its narrow 
walks and alleys where poisonous odors impreg- 
nate the air with sickness and death, and seek a 
country home, where you can breathe God's air in 
purity, and can breathe it freely. 

Put pride aside, yes, under your feet completely; 
and if you can obtain a situation to do housework, 
accept it, that is, if you have any desire or disposi- 
tion to do this kind of work ; and necessity often 
generates the disposition, you know. You may be 
treated with coldness, even scorn, perhaps ; but be 
patient, work earnestly and faithfully in the interests 
of your mistress. Show her that you are honest 
and sincere in your efforts to please and serve her. 
Do not attempt to know more than your mistress ; 
and even if you do know more than she does about 
some things, do not make your knowledge a matter 
of controversy. When she is in the wrong, do not 
allow unkind words to be uttered by you, even 
though you may have hers to bear ; for the time 
will come when she will perceive her injustice to 
you, and though she may never acknowledge her 
wrong to you in words, she will do so repeatedly 



244 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



by her actions. It may be months before she will 
treat you with any mark of respect, but when you 
have won her confidence, she cannot but treat you 
kindly. You will find your life becoming more 
agreeable daily, and in time you will gain the 
friendship of the entire family. To do this you 
must have a brave heart and a determined will, or 
you will never succeed under the present mode of 
discipline peculiar to housekeepers. Bear in 
silence now, take even their insults without a word 
of reply, and by so doing you will set an example 
before your mistress worthy of her imitation, and 
at the same time you will be happy in the knowl- 
edge that you are doing right. Laboring, toiling 
women, you have a work to do, and the question 
we put to you is this. Will you do this work ? 
Elevate the standard of house-servants, and you 
will bless the country by your work, and sooner or 
later will receive the hearty thanks of all. The 
result in your own individual cases will more than 
repay you for all that you may do ; but the influ- 
ence of your work will be felt everywhere. You 
w^ll be fully satisfied for all the scorn you have 
received, and your pride, sacrificed and crushed in 
the task, will spring up again when you shall be- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 245 

hold what your hands have wrought. The end 
will justify your daring, and thousands will cherish 
your memory for the reform you have brought 
about. If you perform your duty, good will be the 
result. You will secure to yourself a permanent 
home, and, with a fixed determination to do right, 
no matter what treatment may be received, will 
lighten your burdens so that they can be borne. 
You will aid your mistress, in addition to this, in a 
way which she may not realize now, but will take 
pains to confess the fact at some time. Consider 
it a duty devolving upon you to show to the world 
a thoroughly good servant of whom no complaint 
has been made. Leave all behind you in the city 
with its numberless dens of vice and the untold 
wiles which had been laid for your feet. Forget 
the past, whatever it may have been, and live with 
the fixed determination to make the present what 
it should be. 

If your mistress carries out the plan herein laid 
down for her to observe, she will aid you by mak- 
ing your duties less those of a slave and more 
those of an assistant ; she will cheer you on your 
way with kind, encouraging words, and thus you 
will be mutually benefited. This is the way it 



246 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

should be, for you are mutually dependent upon 
each other. Once more would we urge you to 
leave the city with its crowded rooms, if you are 
pale and sickly, and seek the country, where you 
will soon gain a healthful glow to the cheek. 

Just here we may say that the work of the house- 
keeper is the most healthful of all employments, 
and this is the best recommendation any occupa- 
tion can have. 

We can take another step in connection with 
this subject, and inquire the cause of this treat- 
ment received by servants. Cause is always neces- 
sary to effect, and such is true in this case. Only 
a few words are necessary to make the truth fully 
known. 

The education of young ladies at the present 
time is lacking in that which is necessary to good 
housekeepers. To make a success of anything, a 
knowledge of the work in which you are about to 
engage is absolutely needful ; so with housekeep- 
ing : if you would make a success of it, you must 
understand it fully. A young lady's ignorance, 
combined with her overbearing disposition, will 
not then be a continual source of discord between 
herself and servants. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 247 

Mothers are to be blamed to a certain extent for 
not educating their daughters in housework. No 
sacrifice is too great for them to make in order 
that their darlings may be perfected in the fashion- 
able accomplishments, while the one needful thing 
for every young lady to know is almost wholly 
neglected, although it comes under the personal 
supervision of the mother. When a young girl, 
whose education has been neglected in this respect, 
is married and placed in a home of her own, the 
work necessary to the carrying on of this very 
home is a perfect mystery to her. Help is hired, 
and they soon comprehend the situation. They 
perceive the ignorance of their mistress, and are 
ready to take advantage of it to their own pecu- 
niary benefit. 

It matters not what a young lady's standing in 
society may be, or what her wealth may be, the 
possibility of her being obliged to attend to house- 
keeping matters herself renders it incumbent upon 
her to become thoroughly versed in the mysteries 
of the kitchen. Mothers, see to it that your 
daughters can prepare and preside over a dinner 
with as much skill and ease as they manifest in 
discoursing some beautiful music on the piano ; 



248 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

and when you have done this, your daughters will 
know how to treat their servants, should they have 
any. 

Reform, as we said away back in the first pages, 
is the cry which comes to us from every condition 
of life, and, of a truth, reform is needed in this 
respect as much as in any other. 

But why are there so many women among this 
lower toiling class? Because their education is 
limited, and they can take upon themselves no 
other kind of work. We sincerely believe that 
when woman proves herself competent to perform 
a higher grade of labor than that which she now 
occupies, — it matters not what it is, — new spheres 
of labor will be opened up to her. Instead of uni- 
versal suffrage, we want universal education, for 
when the last has been secured the first may be 
given up by men voluntarily, in order that they 
may avail themselves of woman's aid and assist- 
ance. 

But how are those who have no means of their 
own to educate themselves? What use is there 
to talk about fitting themselves for a higher grade 
of labor, when the means necessary to such advance- 
ment lie far beyond their reach ? It is true they 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



249 



cannot aid themselves ; but our plan would be to 
place the desired aid within their reach, and, if we 
will labor earnestly for the securing of the essen- 
tials for woman's advancement, we in time will 
secure them. 

These essentials we regard as being comprised 
in the establishment of schools and colleges, with 
the same liberality in numbers and endowment 
which has characterized the founding of colleges 
for males. We rather approve of the plan of a co- 
education of the sexes ; but as so much has been 
said which has deterred many from seeking ad- 
mission to these institutions, and as no endowment 
or provision has been made for female scholarships, 
we would urge the establishing of female colleges, 
with all the advantages of the present college sys- 
tem. This will remove all barriers or obstacles 
out of the way of those who would avail them- 
selves of a college discipline. Look our country 
over and behold the number of these educational 
institutions, and then make inquiries which shall 
result in your gaining information in regard to 
their munificent endowment, but you will find but 
few schools termed colleges for females. 

Why has woman not been provided for equally 



250 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



with man in this respect? Think you there is 
less reason for her being thoroughly educated ? 
Has her sphere of labor and usefulness been so 
contracted that such advantages have been consid- 
ered wholly unnecessary, or do you consider her 
intellect so far superior to that of man that no 
such discipline is necessary to develop her mind ? 

None of the questions can be answered with 
anything like an affirmative reply. Provisions for 
woman's advanced education have been wholly 
neglected until recently, when several colleges 
opened their doors, that she might be benefited 
thereby. Now we ask that this long neglect may 
be remedied fully. Let us have privileges that will 
come within the reach of the toiling women, so 
that they may raise themselves from their present 
condition of servitude. 

To you, generous, philanthropic men, we appeal, 
and ask that you take this matter into consideration. 
We ask that out of your abundance you give to 
woman that which shall be to her better than 
money ; for knowledge will secure to her money, 
and will make her better in every respect. 

There is no use in denying the fact of the lack 
of needed information among women of the lower 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



251 



class, as a whole ; for the truth is too sadly evi- 
dent. Were they better educated, they could 
secure far better positions in which to labor. Give 
to woman opportunities of her own for improving 
the mind, and she will improve those opportunities. 

The need of some action upon the matter is 
becoming more and more apparent, and it seems 
as though the time is not far distant when some 
active measures will be taken in this direction. 
Would that we could interest those who have the 
means necessary to the successful working of any 
scheme, so that they would take the first forward 
step ! You who have money to bestow upon 
educational interests, give what you have for the 
founding of colleges where woman can be perfected 
in her education. Endow such liberally with 
scholarships and funds, for ample provision has 
already been made for man. 

Reformation and progress are needed every- 
where, and this is why we have become so inter- 
ested in this subject. 

In nothing is progress so much needed, as in 
the facilities for female education. We need these 
privileges made general; and, we were going to 
say, let them be enforced by law. 



252 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



If women would only give up the cry for the 
ballot, and strive to benefit their own sex by seek- 
ing to secure for them a means of education, — if 
they would labor as they have in their present 
undertaking, — they would see their efforts crowned 
with success ; but, as it is, they are wasting their 
time in futile and useless toil. 

Men have given up many privileges already; and 
a woman, so disposed, can enter into any respect- 
able profession, if she is only fitted for it. When 
the means are placed within her reach necessary 
to the preparation of herself for a professional life, 
and she has availed herself of them, then she can 
prove to the world whether she is able to meet and 
overcome the emergencies of life as a business 
woman. She will then have an opportunity of 
showing whether an equal education with man will 
make her a physician equal to him in skill, as 
eloquent a lawyer as he, as thorough an accountant, 
or as competent a salesman. When this has been 
done, then we shall know whether woman's in- 
equality to man is the fault of the intellect or the 
educational discipline. 

Many colleges have been thrown open to woman ; 
but, as it now is, only those of means, as well as a 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 



253 



great deal of independence, feel like availing them- 
selves of these privileges. We need a system of 
complete training that shall be available to all. 
We approve of a business education, and would 
recommend the patronizing of business colleges by- 
young ladies who are obliged to support them- 
selves, but this does not supply the lack. We 
need a course of study as thorough and as ad- 
vanced for woman as man has been privileged 
with, and made as accessible to her as it now is to 
the opposite sex. Any poor boy can obtain a 
college education if he desires one ; but the same 
thing is an utter impossibility for a poor girl. 

When the masses of the people are better edu- 
cated, better fitted to work, then the moral condi- 
tion of the country will be advanced. 

If ever men needed to be liberal, they do now 
for this very object. 

Make the pathway for woman to walk in a little 
more easy for her. Remove the obstacles from 
before her, and elevate her by using every effort 
to secure universal education. 

We have reached a time in the history of this 
country when some fair trial must be made to 
destroy and end the controversy in regard to 
22* 



254 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



woman's infeiHority to man. She lias in many in- 
stances proved her superiority to him with her 
limited privileges ; and, to end the warfare, do all 
you can to secure to her equal advantages. Take 
as much interest in her advancement as you do in 
those things peculiar to your own sex ; and, when 
you do this, then you can talk of inequality with 
some small degree of reasonableness. 

No one who is familiar with the current news of 
the day can but be surprised and alarmed at the 
increase of crime among females. Twenty years 
ago a female criminal was considered quite a curi- 
osity ; but now we can scarcely take up a paper 
without finding an account of the fearful doings of 
women. This is a sad truth. Mothers, wives, 
daughters, and sisters, have you gone so far 
as to stain and even dye your hands in human 
gore? 

They have become familiar with every form of 
sin and vice until their homes are little less than 
perdition itself. What can we expect of children 
reared in such homes ? Would you be surprised 
if they should equal or even exceed their ancestors 
in crime? Would it be just and reasonable for us 
to expect such children to grow up into pure- 



AS IT SHOULD BE, 255 

minded men and women ? Ah, no ! The tide of 
human misery will only be swelled and increased 
with each succeeding generation, unless we raise 
these women from their present condition, or instill 
into the minds of their children the principles of 
truth and morality ; and the only way of accom- 
plishing this is by education. 

The greater portion of all crime is committed by 
the lower class of people, which is a sufficient 
proof in itself to warrant our believing that such 
a condition of affairs is owing to their ignorance. 

Of course there are instances when the offender 
is from among the higher class of people; but if 
inquiry be made into such an one's life-history, it 
will be found that the early moral training was 
totally neglected, thus allowing the passions to 
gain the supremacy of power to the ruin of the 
individual. 

Unless we have a great and mighty moral con- 
trolling power within, we must all go astray ; and 
the strength of this very power will be in the same 
proportion as our education has tended toward the 
development of our higher and purer nature. 

The increase of crime among women speaks to 
us in volumes of meaning, urging us to action. 



256 AS IT SHOULD BE. 

Women in this condition of life must be elevated, 
and that right speedily, if we would counteract the 
evil influence which they are exerting upon the 
world generally. 

Crime is very much like a contagious disease. 
Each new fearful deed committed is heralded 
throughout the country, and there are those who 
are filled with an almost morbid desire to do like- 
wise, upon reading such an article ; and, in time, 
as a general thing, their desires are carried out. 
Crime is the disease itself, and the press is often 
the medium through which its contagious influ- 
ences are spread abroad. 

Sin begets sin, not only in the individual of- 
fender, but in the whole community. There are 
those so wholly depraved, that every new act of 
wrong seems to arouse in them a desire to show 
to the world that they can perform the same deed 
in a far more business-like manner. When mur- 
der has been committed in such a clumsy, awk- 
ward way as to fix the guilt upon the right indi- 
vidual almost immediately, they would like to show 
how they could do the same deed and defy detec- 
tion. 

When such things are the result of ignorance. 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



257 



it behooves us to provide these people with privi- 
leges which shall enlighten them and elevate them 
to an equal height with the rest of humanity. 
This plan of universal education is what they need, 
and we trust that the day is not far distant when 
this plan Will be carried into successful opera- 
tion. 

But suppose the ballot be given to woman, 
what will be the result ? How is she to use it to 
her advantage ? Will it, or can it, secure to her the 
rights which her own personal welfare demands ? 

We cannot accept the idea advanced by many, 
that if we should have universal suffrage, the color 
of the vote now cast will not be materially changed. 
If all women vote, the present tone of our politics 
must be altered. If only married women were 
allowed this right, such a thing might be possible. 
Nearly all such women would vote with their hus- 
bands ; and in instances of difference of political 
opinions in the family, it will be found that the 
opinion of one woman differing with her Repub- 
lican husband will be just balanced by the views 
of another woman differing from her Democratic 
husband. Such differences as these, when reck- 
oned as a whole, will be found to be about equally 



258 ^^ ^T SHOULD BE. 

divided, thus counteracting the influence of each 
other entirely. 

Present statistics show to us that the male popu- 
lation exceeds that of the female considerably in 
the western and frontier States ; while in the east- 
ern and New England States the very opposite is 
the true condition of affairs, and the majority of 
these females are unmarried. Their voice cannot 
be influenced by husbands' views, and each vote 
cast by these women will have its power with 
either one party or the other. The male vote 
which Is now cast counts In its numbers the ballots 
of the western men, who exceed the females in 
numbers in that locality. Universal suffrage can- 
not alter this one particle. If only married women 
were to vote, the present vote might not be 
changed ; but if the majority of unmarried fe- 
males use the right, there will be an overthrow In 
many fixed principles. If those things which are 
for woman's advancement are made the interests 
of either political party, then women will join 
themselves with It to the success of Its peculiar 
politics. And this Is the only way In which the 
ballot can be made of any use to woman. Her 
welfare must be adopted by one party or the other, 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



259 



and a strictly party vote taken, which will result in 
a twofold benefit. While they secure woman's 
vote and defend her interests, they also secure the 
success of their own views. 

The ballot in the hands of woman will be a use- 
less thing, if she attempts to use her individual 
right for her individual advantage; and, unless she 
unites her interests with one party or the other, 
the whole mass of men will unite in opposing 
every measure she would adopt. Opposition 
which she little thinks of will meet her on every 
hand, and the question of the utility of such a 
right being granted her will be forever settled be- 
yond a doubt. When it has been proved that the 
ballot in the hands of woman is not such a won- 
derful power and means of her advancement, — does 
not equalize work and wages at once, — the interest 
in the new-found privilege will wane, and in time 
it will be returned to those from whom it was taken 
by main force. It is useless to think for a moment 
of woman forming a third political party, which 
shall be for the formation of her own interests, for 
nothing but defeat would ever result to her. The 
only safe way of success lies, as we have said, in 
her allying herself to one or the other of our pres- 



26o AS IT SHOULD BE. 

ent parties ; and now the question is, whether she 
would not be more successful in influencing one 
party or the other to espouse her cause in her 
present condition than she would be could she now 
join her voice with them in suffrage ? 

Those Avho may listen to the advocates of fe- 
male suffrage will be almost led to believe that the 
ballot is the mysterious key which shall open to 
them every door and avenue before which woman 
may place herself. But we are inclined to believe 
that when the right to take an active voice in po- 
litical matters is granted her, man will look upon 
each female in the same light in which he now 
regards his fellow, and as his opponent, which will 
deprive her of much that is now hers through 
the courtesy of the sterner sex. If you will be 
patient and show to them what you can do, they 
will do much for you, because you are a woman 
and dependent upon them for protection and assist- 
ance. There is nothing that pleases men more 
than to know that some one feels and realizes his 
or her dependence upon them. Men think they 
are the " lords of creation," w^hether they are or are 
not, and nothing you may say will convince them 
of the contrary. For this reason it is best to hu- 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 26 1 

mor them and endeavor to gain their aid as a vol- 
untary act of their own. If they are not so much 
engaged in the subject of your welfare as you think 
they ought to be, then use every reasonable effort 
that comes within your reach to incite them to 
increased zeal. You will be more successful in 
such efforts than you will be in your demands for 
the ballot; for, should you be successful at last, 
you will not find yourself benefited in as many 
respects as you had anticipated. Let us lay aside 
all these arguments now, either pro or con, and 
consider the subject just as it is for a few moments 
before we leave our readers. 



23 



From the remarks common to the advocates of 
female suffrage, one would get the idea that all 
women were united, as a whole, in asking for this 
privilege, — that all were anxious to vote. But is 
this true? Are all women desirous of joining 
their voices in the political issues of the day? You 
who read these words pause just here and count 
over how many of your friends, neighbors, and 
those in your immediate vicinity, are in favor of 
using the ballot. When you have done this, you 
will be forced to admit that you were able to find 
only a few. Does this indicate that your friends 
belong to the would-be new political party ? The 
secret of the whole matter is just here : eight- 
tenths of all the women in the country are per- 
fectly satisfied and content with their present cir- 
cumstances ; that is, with the ballot in the hands 
of man. It is true that there are some things they 
need, and other things they possess need adjusting 
to their present wants ; but not for a moment have 
they entertained the thought that the ballot would 
262 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



263 



remedy the matter. They do not want the right 
of suffrage ; and if they really thought men 
were disposed to relinquish the exclusive use of 
this right, they would earnestly protest against 
such a step. They feel that they have no need to 
mix in politics, and would shrink from and refuse 
to enter upon such a life were it placed before 
them. 

As their representative, we would urge men that 
they be not induced to take such a step ; for if such 
a thing should occur, men would force upon the 
majority of females something which they do not 
desire. 

We cannot believe that your wisdom and judg- 
ment will allow you to entertain the matter for a 
moment; for we believe that you see the disad- 
vantages that would follow the ballot being placed 
in the hands of woman at the present time. Nearly 
all women are satisfied, and as this matter now 
exists, are content and happy, with their present 
life. All they ask is that men will keep suffrage to 
themselves, but at the same time they would have 
woman raised to an equality with man in educa- 
tional privileges, work and wages. They ask of 
you that you will reach out your hand and remove 



264 ^^ IT SHOULD BE. 

the oppression under which so many are suffering. 
They feel that you can do this work far better and 
more effectually than they could, even if they were 
endowed with all your rights. 

Women look upon the ballot as something which 
shall forever destroy their homes as they have been 
in the past. A woman's love is her very life, and ' 
for this reason she is never really happy when 
away from her love. Around her home she has 
placed all that her woman's heart has to give, and 
should aught come in to mar its sanctity, or lower 
her true womanhood, in the eyes of those who are 
dear to her, then her life would be apparently 
worthless. Her sensitive nature shrinks from 
taking such a step, because she feels that it is one 
step farther than she was ever designed to take of 
herself Should those who clamor for this privilege 
now be successful, and all persons, male and 
female, both black and white, become equally 
entitled to vote, you will commit a great wrong 
against your own interests by granting this privi- 
lege to woman just now; for the greater portion 
of females will not be disposed to use the right. 
The more refined class of women will never avail 
themselves of the use of the ballot, unless a sense 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 265 

of right and stern duty forces them to the step. 
Should they find that the interests of humanity 
were suffering violence, or were neglected by the 
ruling power, and that their vote would aid in 
removing that power, duty to their fellow-beings 
would compel many of them to do what they now 
ask you to use your influence to prevent by keep- 
ing suffrage within your own sex. Should wrong 
be countenanced and upheld by the lower class of 
women joining their voice to the party which is in 
opposition to their own conviction of right, they 
would feel under obligations to vote in order that 
they might aid in putting down this wrong. If 
suffrage be granted woman, the political parties of 
to-day will soon become far more deeply mired in 
perplexities than they ever have been, and they 
will find the female vote a matter of far more in- 
convenience and trouble than they had thought 
possible. 

They will find that they have committed a great 
wrong against the public generally by the step they 
have taken. 

Now, we ask, how is all this to be prevented? 
By retaining the right of suffrage as something 
belonging to man at present, and never relinquish- 



266 ^S IT SHOULD BE. 

ing it until women have proved themselves able to 
contend with and overcome the battles of life, and 
you find that the welfare of the country, and your 
own interests as men, demand her assistance 
through the ballot. 

We do not say to you to keep suffrage a right 
among yourselves forever, but we ask that you do 
not grant it now upon the demand of a few. When 
you wish woman's aid, however, do not hesitate to 
ask her for it. Do not let your pride prevent you 
from telling her the reason of your asking such a 
favor of her, and then give her the ballot as a free- 
will offering of your own. Do not, however, delib- 
erately force upon women that which they do not 
want; for only the few, comparatively speaking, 
wish for such notoriety. 

If you doubt this fact, make the subject a matter 
of personal inquiry. Canvass thoroughly some 
city or town ; and, when you have done so, let us 
know what per cent, of the female population would 
vote if the law entitled them to do so to-day. 
The truth in connection with this subject should 
be known, for it is of too much importance to warrant 
our accepting every statement that we may hear. 

It is not a difficult matter to change the whole 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 267 

appearance of any subject by presenting it in the 
wrong light ; and when we are told that all women 
desire the right of suffrage, we know that such is 
not the truth of the matter. They do not ; and in 
the name of all that is great and good we protest 
against this privilege being granted women. By 
the sanctity of your homes and firesides, where 
you find peace and comfort; by the love which 
you have for your children, and your duty to them ; 
by the responsibility you would take upon your- 
selves in forcing upon woman that which she does 
not desire ; by woman's true mission of wife and 
mother, as God designed it should be, and not as 
men have made it; by the love and esteem in 
which you hold woman yourself; by the love and 
confidence of your wife, we adjure you to refuse 
an affirmative reply to those who would have you 
think that they represent the female sex. Con- 
sider the matter now in just the light it was in- 
tended that you should. 

We do not intend these closing words to con- 
tradict all that we have said in regard to the reform 
needed in all the different grades of female life ; 
but we would be fully understood that we do not 
consider the ballot essential to this advancement 



268 yiS IT SHOULD BE. 

and elevation. We would have all these wrongs 
remedied, but are convinced that this can never be 
done by placing the ballot in the hands of women. 

We may talk of woman's sphere all our lives 
long, and use every means possible to devise some 
boundary-line or prescribed rules which can be 
applied for the controlling of female action ; but at 
last we shall find all our efforts rewarded with 
failure. No human mind, or combination of hu- 
man intellects, can ever succeed in devising a law 
which shall govern every individual female. That 
law has already been defined by a power that is 
above all things, and whose intellect is wisdom 
itself; and her sphere has been bounded and cir- 
cumscribed by the same power. 

There is no mistaking the boundary-line if we 
will only heed the directions given us. Do you 
ask how we know this ? We refer you to the tes- 
timony of every true, noble. Christian woman, and 
to the Holy Scriptures for the words of the Creator 
Himself The boundary-line of every true woman's 
sphere is distinctly marked out in her own heart, 
yes, in her very soul, and is as much under the 
control of the conscience as any other matter of 
right and wrong. We say " any other matter," as 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



269 



though we regarded the keeping her own sphere, 
or the stepping beyond it, as something to be 
classed within the kingdom of those things over 
which the conscience presides. And this is just 
what we wish to say, for if God has defined woman's 
work and mission both in her own heart and in His 
word, then anything that goes beyond what our 
inward monitor tells us is right, must be classed 
under the head of that which is wrong. 

Every woman who understands herself and her 
own heart will tell you the same thing, and you 
need never fear of her getting outside of her 
proper sphere. One law cannot be made to 
govern all women in this respect ; but the law of 
each individual in her own heart, if observed, 
will never lead her beyond that which is truly 
womanly in every respect. 

Those who have gone so far in their demands 
for rights as to ask the ballot, have, in our way of 
thinking, broken over the barrier of every law or 
restraint of their nature, until they have lost all 
idea of what it is to be a true woman. 

You may talk to those who have walked nobly 
in their woman's way, performing their woman's 
work, and tell them of the advantages the ballot 



2JQ AS IT SHOULD BE. 

would bring to them, and of the advantage it 
would be to them in itself; you may use all the 
argumentative eloquence you are capable of using ; 
but you will never convince them of the truth of 
what you say. The language of their own souls 
will speak far more powerfully than all your words, 
and their woman's sphere within themselves will 
define their place to them far more effectually than 
all your powerful arguments. You may use your 
best efforts to induce such a woman to connect 
herself with your universal suffrage party; but 
you will never succeed. The boundary-line of 
such a woman's sphere is thoroughly, distinctly 
drawn, so that she cannot mistake her mission. 

Now, that we have made this statement even, 
you must not expect that each woman will look 
upon matters pertaining to her own work and 
sphere in the same light that all her sisters regard 
their work, for such a thing would be contrary to 
the laws of nature. One woman may be of a 
strong, self-reliant, independent character, and 
capable of doing much good. For this reason she 
will do things which a shrinking, sensitive, weak 
nature would never think of doing. The actions 
of each one will be governed by the law within, 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 27 1 

which defines a true woman's sphere ; but at the 
same time they will be characterized by their indi- 
vidual peculiarities. 

And now, strong, noble women, do not hesitate 
to do this or that, to avail yourselves of any 
privilege, or do any act or work, for fear of being 
termed '' strong-minded;" for is it not better to be 
stigmatized (if it can be called such) and do much 
good, than to be weak-minded and accomplish 
nothing? Let all women do that which is just 
and right, following the leadings of their higher 
and purer natures within, and we know they will 
not be led beyond the boundary of their sphere. 
If you are talented, be a leader in your own set 
in everything that is for the promotion of virtue, 
morality, and Christianity, for those who are be- 
neath you in intellectual powers will be led by 
you, and, by living a consistent life yourself, you 
may be the means of pointing many to a noble 
womanhood. If you have powers, use them in 
doing good to your neighbor as well as to yourself 
The world is becoming so thoroughly deceitful in 
almost every respect, and in almost every relation, 
even to the very church altar, that people demand 
something more than words to convince them of 



2/2 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



the reality and truth of what you in words have 
spoken to them. A person may profess to be a 
Christian all her life long and know nothing of the 
blessed reality there is in religion. When a per- 
son is a Christian in the true sense of the word, 
she will be like Christ in deed as well as in words. 
Profession and works must correspond, or the 
power of the first will be destroyed. 

An active Christian tells to the world in her acts 
that Christ walks with her, though no words are 
used to make known the fact. The professing 
Christian is continually telling us something of 
her life which her acts would lead us to believe 
impossible for her to realize. 

So, if you would point women to a higher 
istandard of living, you yourself must let your 
actions speak to them of your own standard ; you 
must be a noble woman yourself, which will make 
your efforts doubly successful. Then, when you 
would point out the way in which they must walk, 
you will have dnly to relate to them the experience 
of your own journey over the way in which they 
would walk. 

Cultivate all that is pure in your own hearts, for 
if the source from which our thoughts and actions 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



273 



flow is pure, then our every word and deed will be 
but a proof of that which is hidden. Oh, woman, 
walk grandly in your sphere of action, whatever it 
may be ! If you dwell beneath the roof of fortune 
and wealth, with luxuries on every hand, walk 
grandly there. If your home is a narrow attic in 
some crowded city, let your steps be taken in the 
path of virtue with the same care as if you walked 
in higher circles. Walk grandly here, dear toiling 
one, for your hidden walk with Christ will carry 
you at last to His home beyond the skies. Do 
well your part in life whatever be your station, 
remembering that he who is faithful over a little 
will be made a ruler over many things. 

Our task is finished, and, although it has been 
poorly done, yet it is the result of an earnest, sin- 
cere desire to do good. If we shall be so fortu- 
nate as to inspire in a single heart those purposes 
which shall result in her elevation, we shall be 
amply repaid for the time we have spent with this 
little work. 

Woman, remember that your mission is a high 
and holy one. Put from you those things which 
so detract from the true dignity and beauty of 
your character, and seek for those things which 

24 



2/4 



AS IT SHOULD BE. 



Christ, in His humanity and divinity combined, 
placed within your reach. Raise your standard of 
a true woman so high that the attributes of Him 
who is purity itself shall everywhere surround it, 
and then strive to reach the same height. Walk 
ever with your gaze fixed upward, so that your 
face and actions shall ever reflect the life of the 
Master. Walk honestly, uprightly, and virtuously 
in the true Christian way, and when you are sum- 
moned to " come up higher" you will receive a 
smile of approval and a *' well-done" from your 
heavenly Father. 



THE END. 



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